A Defeat Of Echoes was released in the spring of 2005. It marks the first Donvan's Brain album to be recorded as a complete statement and with the same group of musicians.

Yul Brenner (long version) (3.5k)

From www.ozonline.com.au

Donovan's Brain A Defeat of Echoes It's always intriguing to receive a record that arrives without fan fareor hype of a Label generated press release. It shows trust in the ability of the record to announce itself through sheer quality of the music contained.

A Defeat of Echoes, the fifth release from criminally unheralded outfit Donovan's Brain is one such release &the quality of its content speaks volumes more than spin doctoring ever could. A spell-binding collection of melodic-rock, a defeat of Echoes is not so much a collection of songs as a musical tour through time such is the diversity of the influences expressed. From the tender Pink Floyd inspired movements of The Boy Who Cried New Town, through the George Harrison-esque Open Your Mind & gloriously adventurous Bondi Tombstone, A Defeat of Echoes serves a reminder that although popular music may evolve through the ages there is one quality that defines its fate Ð melody.

When combined with artistic vision & talent the scope of Donovans Brain, music can be so pleasantly atmospheric.

from Lunakafe www.lunakafe.com

Donovan's Brain A Defeat of Echoes Career Records It's not easy to divide this group into any category. Their multi-faceted sound has two many reference points for that to happen any tine soon.

"Decade of Days" is sixties pop with glorious harmonies. Its psychedelic undertow is well placed. "Whispers and tears" echoes the innocent phase of the sixties era. Ringing guitars and a dewy-eyed vocal from Colter Langan certainly helps to make this impression. It could almost be a song by the Zombies. "The Boy Who Cried New Town" fuses the trippiness of Pink Floyd with the pastoral ambience of the Stones ballad "Lady Jane". "Invisible Diamond Man" is a mystery tour through "Sgt Pepper" guided by Syd Barrett.

A Defeat of Echoes is a great record by any standards.

Copyright-© 2005 Anna Maria Stjarnell

from Fufkin.com

Donovan's Brain -- A Defeat Of Echoes (Career): While I am pro-CD when it comes to arguing the sound quality of the digital disc as compared to the vinyl LP, there are some things about vinyl that are superior. One major thing I like better about the vinyl LP is that I think that artists put a lot more thought into sequencing a five or six song album side, as opposed to having up to 80 minutes of straight music on a CD. A well structured album side has a specific ebb-and-flow. On this disc, Donovan's Brain separates the songs into a double album, listing the tracks by album side. And I think they have superbly captured just the right ebb-and-flow. In doing so, this ace psychedelic band really put a lot of work into varying their approaches on the songs. It would probably take me a couple more months to fully absorb this album, but I want to tell you about it now, because it's really good.

There is a nice balance between more stretched out numbers and the more direct songs. Two of the songs sound to me like Guided By Voices if they tripped more and drank less. "City Morning" starts with a strong guitar riff and pulses along on Jeff Arntsen's bass line, with a wisp of melody in the chorus. Bobby (ex-Windbreakers) Sutliff contributes a swell guitar solo. Guitarist Colter Langer also penned "Decade of Days", which is foreboding while remaining bouncy. Here, Radio Birdman's Denis Tek makes one of his periodic appearances on guitar.

The biggest hook on the album is on "Rezolution", an Arntsen number which is gentle and tender, down to his sweet lead vocal. This song slowly burns and has an exceedingly memorable chorus. The music has more of a dramatic edge on the Ronald Sanchez composition "The Boy Who Cried New Town". Sanchez colors the quietly played music with piano, organ and synthesizers, in a song that mixes psych with a touch of the Southwestern sound.

Another outstanding number is "Open Your Mind", at its heart a basic folk-rock tune, which the Brain augments with lots of instrumental color. One striking thing about this album is that after a few plays, it felt like something that had been in my collection for a while. I mean that as a compliment -- it shows to me that this band has gotten their sound down, to where it just sounds the way it should.

-Mike Bennett

DONOVAN'S BRAIN A Defeat Of Echoes (Career; CD)

As contemporary material goes, this is not bad in the round. It's a bit too sulky and petulant in a lot of places for my taste and I'm rather reminded of the shoe gazers of yore on some of these slow numbers ('Come To My Party', 'Whispers And Tears', 'The Boy Who Cried New Town'). However perhaps that's the point, the CD title sort of implies it.

Amongst the musical introspection though, there are some nuggets where the Brain seem to wake up and smell the coffee. Songs like 'When You're Falling' and 'Invisible Diamond Man' are real kicking tunes and it would be good to hear an album's worth of this more affecting material. There is also some pretty nice guitar work weaving its way through numbers like 'Decade of Days' and that is most welcome.

This disc also seems to come (or my review copy did) with a CD Rom of Penny Ikinger (I assume) going through some sound scapes of her own which are worth your while to watch and listen to.

If you like varying shapes of post-retro (figure that one out!) pop and enjoy slower pulse based stuff, then this one will probably suit you nicely. -

Paul Martin