Tesseract are a band that have broken the boundaries of as many genres they can with their highly technical djenty prog infused experimental music. Just one glance at the name Tesseract tells you that this band is going to mess with your mind a little, and they certainly do so with their acoustic album Perspective. New vocals provided by Elliot Coleman create a completely different dynamic to the music. Tesseract still sound like themselves, but Coleman’s voice brings out new colors and emphasises aspects of the music which weren’t so obvious before.
Coleman sounds like a disney prince compared to his predecessor who could morph from saccharine sighs to blackest rage in seconds. Some people may view his constantly clean voice as one dimensional, but Coleman fits perfectly into the mix and drives the musical narrative forward. You’ll want to drizzle his voice on your morning pancakes like honey as his voice melts into the fabric of the songs that flow perfectly. The flow is aided by the expert mixing that has gone into the production of this album which once again fits the instrumentation and order of the music together like a well made 2000 piece puzzle.
The album contains the acoustic versions of 'April' and 'Eden 2.0' as well as parts four and six of 'Concealing Fate' – 'Origin' and 'Perfection' respectively – from the band's 2011 album One. A haunting cover of 'Dream Brother' by Jeff Buckley also gets the acoustic Tesseract treatment There is a heavy element to the music in spite of its graceful lightness, but it remains foremost a work that reproduces the sound of summer in contrast to the harsh winter tones of their previous work. You will be treated to and spoiled by Tesseract's beautifully intricate guitarwork as well as the golden tones of Coleman with this record. But there will also be brooding hints of a winter to come, like dark clouds gathering for another album which cannot come soon enough.
However, vocalist Coleman has now amicably left the band so this is a completely unique segment of Tesseract’s discography. This album truly is a different perspective on the band, and one that we will hopefully soon be able to view from different points of the tesseract come the next album. We hungrily await.
Tesseract are set to tour Europe with Animals as Leaders in September. I assure you that you will be hearing exactly how amazing that show will be when it happens.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPf2VYL5Azg[/youtube]