armen at the Bazaar - 6 song EP review

"armen at the Bazaar" is listed as alternative, healing & easy listening, and gospel on his MySpace page.

If there was gospel involved, I missed it, but that is neither here nor there. When I first seen these three types of music listed together I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't just get a 6 song EP, I got an experience.

Overall, the album has a very relaxed feel to it, there is not a lot of loud distorted guitars and drums, but a variety of instruments in a gentle way to not take away from the excellent vocal work being done. armen uses a lot of vocal layering and harmonies throughout the recordings which give it a very interesting musical texture. For armen, it's not always about "thickening up" each chorus, but adding vocal effects in and looping them (used to excellent effect in "in the mirror")

While the musicianship on the album blends well with the vocal harmonies and melodies, the lyrics have interesting ideas as well, particularly showcased on "expected to be telepathic."

The "tribal interlude" was a large deviation away from what the rest of the album sounded like but with the vocal layering used in other songs it was a deviation that wasn't at all out of place.

This is something to check out, especially since you can download the 6 song EP for free from armen's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/armenatthebazaar.

Check it out, I imagine you'll be glad that you did. On a final note, all songs are written, recorded, mixed and produced by armen. The EP was mastered by Nick Schofield (of the instrumental group Bananafish). I'm looking forward to hearing more from armen.