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photosBeatroute May 2009 (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Beatroute
May 2009
Barzin – Notes To An Absent Lover
Heartbreak has long been a fertile inspiration for great art. The third full- length album form Toronto’s Barzin Husseini, deals in ‘girl-done-left me and why?” catharsis. Not since Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago have we heard such an exquisitely beautiful musical offering born of love lost. As is true of most talented blues songwriters, the vulnerability and shifting emotions of a failed relationship are laid bare in the songs, but do not require the listener to descend to the writer’s depths in order to be drawn in by the music. Like the sun’s warm rays illuminating a lonely momento-filled home, the music is both revealing and comforting. Frequent Barzin contributors Mike Findlay, Karen Graves and other talented players let Barzin’s breathy Mike Scott- reminiscent vocals shine above the tasteful vibes, banjo, clarinet, pedal steel and string quartet. Fan’s of immaculate, atmospheric, orchestral melancholic pop in the vein of Tindersticks, Mojave 3, Red House Painters, Low and Galaxy 500 will revel in Barzin’s therapeutic musical consolation.
"
Now Magazine April-May 2009 (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"In an age when frenzied synth rock and buzz-saw techno are the names of the game, Barzin’s Notes To An Absent Lover is a welcome anomaly. The Toronto singer/songwriter’s third album finds him wading at a snail’s pace through the rising waters of lost love and its grief-saturated aftermath. In a soft alto with just a hint of vibrato, he sings candidly about his sadness, enhancing it with snare drum shuffling, mournful harmonica and subtle washes of pedal steel, piano and strings.
Recorded by Don Kerr and Jeremy Darby, the nine songs are melancholic, artfully sparse and heartbreaking in their vulnerability. Rarely is an album so wholly committed to a concept from start to finish, making Notes feel less like a meditation on loss than an active attempt by Barzin to get through it. A downer, to be sure, but a beautiful one. (4/5)"
Carla Gillis
Exclaim! (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"With a title like that, it's guaranteed this isn't going to be a laugh-a-minute kind of record. Indeed, true to his previous releases, Barzin mopes with the best of them, but while this means it isn't particularly exciting, it is quite a graceful and confident record. Barzin conjures up some striking elegiac atmosphere to accompany his "notes," like on "Words Tangled In Blue," where you feel like you're watching a doomed waltz in an empty room. Closer "The Dream Song" is the highlight, where Barzin takes his place amongst the lush whisperers who personify that quiet is the new loud, with the beautiful strings and lone piano rounding out Barzin's smooth voice. Where Bon Iver and others accentuate the cathartic nature of their songs, Barzin tends to draw the listener in with his utter resignation. Essentially, whatever he had, it's gone and here's the sonic reorganization of the mess that was left behind. An admirable effort put together with much care, this is for those with the patience for such slow and intricate moods. "
CHARTattack (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"It's anybody's guess why Barzin Hosseini hasn't received as much recognition as contemporaries Jim Bryson, Hayden, Tony Dekker and Howie Beck. He too has been making introspective, haunting folk albums for most of this decade.
This third full-length sticks to the same formula as its predecessors. The break-up album has been done to death, but the results are less cliched than you'd expect when a talented artist does it.
Barzin vocally really resembles Neil Halstead these days. Notes To An Absent Lover is sonically reminiscent of Low's early albums thanks to a plethora of supporting players. It's a pretty depressing affair (which isn't out of the ordinary for Barzin), though a couple of tracks almost border on optimistic.
We'll probably never get an exciting album out of Barzin, but he does his thing as well as anyone in Canada. (4/5)"
Slap Skateboard Magazine - April 2009 (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"This is one of those bands, and everyone has them, that they try and try to get people to listen to. They take a personal stake in it, as if I can get one more person to buy this album, I'll meet my sales quota and get a shiny new pink Cadillac (I may be getting the music industry confused with Mary Kay here, but no matter). But of course there is no fancy car payoff, just the satisfaction of getting more ears tuned into one of the most talented and underrated songwriters of the last 10 years. I am of course referring to Barzin Hosseini, or just Barzin, as you may have guessed from the header at the top. This is his third full-length, and I couldn't even tell you if this is better or worse than his other albums because they are all damn near perfect. Friends of atmospheric, mellow music in the vein of Red Huse Painters, Low, and Galaxy 500 need to drop what they are doing and go to their local independent record store and purchase this release and/or any of his other albums. And if they don't carry Barzin's records, grab that bespectacled clerk by his or her beard (and if it is a her with a beard, maybe find a better store to shop at) and demand they order it for you. The world needs more Barzin. You need more Barzin"
Mojo Magazine (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Mojo Americana Album of the Month
Barzin's follow up to 'My Life In Rooms' (2006)is in essence, a Canadian 'For Emma, Forever Ago' with strings - an intimate, chillingly beautiful reflection on a lost love and its aftermath. His voice, pitched somewhere between a breath and an echo, works perfectly with his poignant lyrics and sensitive melodies (well, all except for the angry and jarring 'Look What Love Has Turned Us Into'). The same can be said for the respectfully non-intrusive instrumentation, which includes vibes, banjo, clarinet, pedal steel and a string quartet. Here there is none of the previous album's sound experiments, just the simple grace of Low, the mournfulness of Red House Painters and a real sense of the author's humanity. A sense, too, of his songwriting skills, particularly o the memorable pop-Americana Soft Summer Girls, lovely Nobody Told Me, and the heart-rending Stayed Too Long In This Place. (****)"
Sylvie Simmons
Q Magazine (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"For anyone currently nursing a bruised or broken heart and fancying a good old self-indulgent mope, this third album from a shadowy Toronto-based singer-songwriter known only as Barzin makes the perfect sorrowful soundtrack. Slow, hushed and infinitely melancholic, it's a pitch-perfect study in lost love, both lyrically understated and impeccably arranged, with strings, vibraphone and pedal steel all being used sparingly to frame his closely mic'd vocals on the likes of Nobody Told Me, When It Falls Apart and an aching Soft Summer Girls'. Rarely does sorrow get to sound quite so entrancing or cathartic. (****)"
Peter Kane
Uncut magazine (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"The third LP from Toronto troubador Barzin is sodden with sentiment about a break-up, but admirably understated as expressions of sorrow, bewilderment and regret go.
The big thing about Notes... is emotional universality - it's as reminiscent of take That as it is of Red House Painters.
Musically, the comparisons hold less true: melancholia washes over these nine hushed elegies to love, Barzin's spare guitar work fleshed out with strings, double-bass and pedal steel - on "Look What Love Has Turned Us Into", to surprisingly upbeat effect. (***)"
Sharon O'Connell
NetRhythms (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Stylistically likened to Mazzy Star, Mojave 3 and American Music Club, the Canadian singer-songwriter trades in soft, fuzzily warm melancholy filtered through a drugged out country haze as he reflects on a relationship break-up and its aftermath. Lightly kissed with string arrangements, pedal steel and the occasional caress of a vibraphone or harmonica, it waltzes through the heart's debris on dreamy melodies and a whispered voice coated with wistful regret.
As you'd image, while Look What Love Has Turned Us Into has a slight brushed country spring in its step, it never strays far from the confessional ballad territory so beautifully embodied in such softly bruised numbers as the slow waltzing Words Tangled In Blue, Soft Summer Girls, Stayed Too Long In This Place and the wonderfully maudlin moping Nobody Told Me. Almost worth getting yourself dumped for in order to enjoy its exquisite pain to the full. "
Mike Davies
Americana UK (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Melancholic beauty for the broken of heart.
Opening with ‘Nobody Told Me’ Canadian singer/songwriter sets the tone for this album of love and loss. It is a template for the tortured artist – ripping out their own damaged heart and throwing on the table in front of you so that its pain is seen and felt by all. Any number of musicians have traded on this cliché from James Blunt through Beck all the way to Bon Iver. But there is no back story here – no hunting in the woods and weeping into guitars in a darkened cabin filled with the ghosts of the broken.
Mr. Barzin ( to his bankmanager?) can certainly write a tune. Each one a lush nugget of melancholy that tilts at self indulgence but for the most part manages to avoid this insipid pit. The delivery is Tom McCrae or Mike Scott, the idiom more American Music Club or even Gary Louris and the production upfront and clean. Washes of sound support the song a la Lanois or The Cowboy Junkies – sparse and satisfying.
There is, ultimately, a mood that prevails – intimate and personal. This is an album that will fill dark nights and for some it could fill the role of an ‘On the Beach’ (side 2) or a ‘Vultures Await’ – a soundtrack to return to, to reopen the wound. Its sense of its identity will count against it for some but if you’ve ever felt the seduction of melancholy then this is as good a soundtrack for the embrace as any. (8/10)"
keith lovejoy
The Independent (UK) - 31 January, 2009 (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"What becomes of the broken-hearted? The third album from the Canadian sultan of slowcore anatomises that teaser with hushed emotional force aplenty. The dream-pop backing to his doleful voice is scrupulously spare, but with not a note out of place, its ambient textures feel rich enough to luxuriate in, evoking the suspended animation of big sadness with exquisite poise. ****"
Rahul Verma
Resonator Magazine (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Canadian singer-songwriter Barzin came to my conscious completely at random and has suddenly filled it nearly entirely. His most recent album, this year’s Notes To An Absent Lover, is a soft, subtle and gorgeous study in how to transmute loveloss into tender art.
Notes To An Absent Lover works in a way that many similar albums simply can’t, in that you can splinter sections off of it and they function as equally powerful, albeit quiet, testaments to the album’s beauty as it would taken as a whole. “Look What Love Has Turned Us Into” is obviously a personal statement, but it could’ve been written with hands shaking or calm, from a distance or in the center of the storm as two people drift apart. Barzin’s sheer lyrical skill, incredibly emotive voice and simple instrumentation (initially seeming to be nothing that couldn’t be found at a coffeehouse and then, with headphones on, revealing to be layers upon layers of texture) all work to keep the album meaningful without ever resorting to trite emo-territory. Heartstrings are plucked and pulled here, but never broken. It’s because of that intelligence, through that simple logic (there are never any “oh my god please come home” sentiments here, though an intelligent listener such as yourself can read between the lines), that these songs are made all the deeper.
For gray days and plaintive moments, this is just a stunningly beautiful record. "
Discorder.ca (Notes to an Absent Lover)
"Barzin’s much anticipated third full-length album is analgesic, narcoleptic and offers the warmest kind of apathy for those with broken hearts and tattered emotions. Filled with mellow, downtempo folk-pop with a hint of country, Notes to an Absent Lover is essential listening. While Barzin keeps the overall sound simple and minimalist, the album has many textures, as he diffuses vibraphone, cello and viola throughout the work. Caught somewhere between the poetic sensitivity of Lou Reed and the downtrodden voice of Wilco, Barzin sings about what love looks like when it falls apart. While most of the lyrics and themes are tied to the vulnerability of an individual who has failed in love, it gets a little aggressive and doubtful in “Look What Love Has Turned Us Into,” where he painfully howls “We’re strangers and we’re ugly / ‘Cause we’ve lost so very much.” With Barzin comparing love to a dream song and describing it as “tangled in blue,” Notes showcases a complexity of raw emotion; mingling regret, loss and everlasting frustration. It would seem that Beck’s 2002 album Sea Change can now step down as the reigning break-up album."
noiZine (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Slow motion vibes with an excellent romantic attitude.Fantastic voice and a really simple composition evolution. Every song is another unique pop ballad. Barzin presents an album full of emotions and some clever and easy-listening tracks. There is a jazz tension in the background adn an obvious pop/rock creation. The atmosphere is a bit melancholic but the songs are really sweet under a sad blanket of sounds. This is an ambient release, so simple that you can love ot immediately."
SoundsXP (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"If a man’s not got bad luck, runs the old blues lyric, he’s got no luck at all. At least Barzin has melodies though. His songs are so filled with broken romances and self-loathing it’s surprising that the Canadian singer-songwriter makes it to the end of his third record; it’s a good job he does though, as the closing track ‘The Dream Song’ is so gorgeously melancholic, so seductively miserable, it feels almost a guilty pleasure. ‘Soft Summer Girls’ is nearly as good, a lament for a girl he used to know and can’t forget. The music and mood have a sad romantic beauty, reminiscent of American Music Club and Red House Painters, and this is well worth hearing, though you might want to lock away the knives first."
Ged M
Boomkat (Notes To An Absent Lover)
"Canadian songwriter Barzin returns with a third full-length, continuing to expand upon the maudlin, opiated country sound he's been gaining a following for ever since his 2003 eponymous debut. The intangible gauziness and home-taped haze that was previously so fundamental to Barzin's sound takes a backseat in favour of more elaborate and mature arrangements - strings and all. Consequently, while the standard of writing remains as melancholically high as ever, breathtaking ballads like 'Soft Summer Girls' are embellished and produced with all the fineries and trappings they command. Notes To An Absent Lover has all the hallmarks of a breakthrough album, and while the content of Barzin's music has seldom fallen short of being outright stunning, this outing finally provides the right context for a wider audience to get on board. Highly recommended."
Word Magazine January 2008 ('Barzin')
"“Superior sundowner music from talented Toronto singer-songwriter”
This is a case study in powerful stillness, the musical equivalent of watching Robert Mitchum in close-up, every tiny tremor and twitch taking on a compelling resonance. Barzin fills the wide open spaces of his music with grace and care, mostly with the slow swish of brushes and fat notes of guitar reverb that hang in the air like raindrops from telephone wires. His soft whisper of a voice falls somewhere between a prayer and a threat, promising on Pale Blue Eyes that “you do not know how far you will fall”.
The emphasis throughout is on texture rather than tunes, like a prolonged immersion in warm, salty water. Past All Concerns is Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You taken to even more luxuriously melancholy heights, while elsewhere friends of American Music Club, Galaxie 500 and Talk Talk’s Spirit Of Eden will find much that pleases. "
Graeme Thomson
Rocksound December 2007 ('Barzin')
"“A much warranted full European release for the debut album of autumnal slow-core from Toronto-based Barzin Hosseini. Ostensibly a a solo project (later incarnations of the band have included Tony Dekker of the excellent Great Lake Swimmers), Barzin’s calmly meditative vocals and confessional delivery have drawn comparisons with Mark Kozelek and Low, although it’s actually far more remeniscient of Josh Hayden’s quietly impressive and much underrated Spain. Simple melodies played on acoustic guitar and piano are infused with rich sonic textures, while the gently weeping pedal steel in ‘Sleep’ and the serene rhythmic pulse of ‘Building A House’ are steeped with a melancholic edge that is both understated and warmly inviting.” (7)"
Neil Gardener
The Independent on Saturday (UK) ('Barzin')
"This Toronto singer-songwriter's debut came out Stateside in 2003, but then slowcore is his style, as are fragile tales of "battered leaves" and "broken plants" [sic]. When he sings "it makes me sad", you don't doubt it. An exquisitely beautiful mood of sonic discretion elevates his tender Americana into a thing of skin-tingling sublimity: you hardly dare move while it's playing. Beautiful. ****"
Kevin Harley
Uncut Magazine (December 2007) (S/T)
"So melancholic, mournfully introspective and funereally paced is the debut from Barzin, it makes even Red House Painters sound giddy and hysterical. The Toronto singer-songwriter began his recording life as a soloist, but over the course of two albums and an EP has gathered around him a band, featuring players from Great Lake Swimmers, Polmo Polpo and (rather more surprisingly) Heavy Trash.
2003's 'Barzin' sets out the artist's slow-core/ambient Americana stall, a venture dedicated to moody minimalism, emotional understatement and divine quietude that ranks him alongside Mazzy Star, Film School and Labradford. (****) "
Sharon O'Connell
Boomkat (S/T)
"The eponymous debut album by Canadian songwriter Barzin gets the reissue treatment from Monotreme Records, who released the quite wonderful follow-up "My Life In Rooms". Like that record, this first full-length explores an aesthetic of incredibly warm slowcore country sounds, with slow flickering waves of tremolo guitar and vast pedal steel slides. While the elements that make up the album are fairly simple and the pace never really exceeds 'glacial', the album has moments of enormous emotional weight, carrying a kind of restrained, graceful force throughout. This is especially true of the sublime 'Past All Concerns', a piece of stunning, opiated country sung in duet with Tamara Williamson, with a slightly hazy, muffled sound reminiscent of The Gentleman Losers. Elsewhere, on 'Pale Blue Eyes' you'll be struck by a sound that balances the rootsy authenticity of Calexico with Sigur Ros' skill with quietly epic song arrangements, and undoubtedly, Barzin offers a markedly more atmospheric, even eerie take on the idea of the lone songsmith, but importantly, he manages to do so without compromising on the richness of his writing, which is impressive throughout. Highly recommended."
30music.com (USA) (My Life In Rooms)
"The opening track to Barzin’s My Life in Rooms, “Let’s Go Driving,” suggests just that: Driving. Ahhh, the open road, preferably the prairies descending into the Rocky Mountains and Barzin – life doesn’t get much better than this. A romanticized track at its core, “Let’s Go Driving” preps the listener for a nine-song reflectively melancholic venture.
Comparatively speaking, Barzin cozy up to the somber sounds of ‘90s mood rockers Spain and the ambivalent direction of Low while maintaining a desperation all their own. The play very slow, very delicate, and very fruitfully. A belly full of instrumentation consumes the sound as Mike Findlay whispers stories about leaving, finding more drugs, and his life in rooms.
The abstract simplicity in which Barzin create their diligent sadcore is a reputable – not to mention rewarding – feature. Sure, there are quite a few other bands creating similar sounding records, but there is something in Barzin’s subtleties that helps set them part. Consistency is crucial throughout My Life in Rooms as Barzin never over exude nor over complicate the matter of their subjects. They play with a tender ease and a stark passion. Do not increase the beats per minute, please.
Let this record act as your late-night soundtrack, while driving or otherwise. Take an extremely deep breath, press play, and allow Barzin to do the rest. Let them take you away. You’ll appreciate where you end up."
The Wichita CityPaper (USA) (My Life In Rooms)
"Pretty chamber country-esque tunes from a Canadian outfit that holds in its ranks Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers). While the half-whispered vocals might detract some from listening with abandon and while some might argue that the somnolent movement of tracks such as “Leaving Time” and “Just More Drugs” is painfully slow, there’s something to be said for enjoying the silence and understated beauty of Barzin. With enough pedal steel and vibraphone to perk up your ears on a consistent basis, My Life in Rooms is a tender aural novel, a nearly epic aural poem that resonates deeply with the listener long after the final note has ended its travels on the bright and brilliant sound spectrum. (4/5)"
Jive Magazine (USA) (My Life In Rooms)
"Interview of Barzin can be found here: http://www.jivemagazine.com/article.php?pid=5873
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Bricolage Fantasy (France) (My Life In Rooms)
"Very pretty slowcore album. Barzin’s brand of slowcore sounds like familiar blues rock and alt.country, but the songs are so well executed it is memorable. Thinks of Barzin as Arab Strap meets Red House Painter. It radiates warmth without overstretching. Somebody is going to use Barzin’s songs for an art house movie for sure."
Keenly observed (USA) (My Life In Rooms)
""Okay, just a little pinprick," sighs one-named wonder Barzin in a nod to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." "Maybe what I need is just more drugs." It sounds like he has plenty; this Canadian songwriter's hazy take on lo-fi, midtempo introspection is perfect for winter hibernating and drifting into oblivion.
This soft and intricate record shares an organic bent with the likes of Iron and Wine and M. Ward, its murmured, mournful numbers crafted as if straight from the bottom of the ocean. Warmed with lap and pedal steel and graced with the music-box prettiness of vibraphone, these shy songs inch their way onto a plane of suspended reality. Barzin caresses the music with the gentlest of voices. Never breaking character, he delivers each vocal in an austere, droopy manner that suggests perpetual loneliness ("So Much Time To Call My Own" is a standout). These are sad waltzes and losers' lullabies - nurturing music that lets you get beautifully lost."
- Amanda Langston
Unpeeled (My Life In Rooms)
"Thoughtful and predominantly melancholy mixture of mood pieces and gorgeous graveyard alt-country pop. The vocals are understated, whispered, the strings bank in luxurious piles or decorate artfully with light, slight touches and the guitars are uniformly excellent, pedal steels yawing like violins, acoustics barely brushed, slide guitars, hmmm. Best of bunch here is Wont You Come that reminds strangely, but strongly of Lennons #9 Dream and obviously thats reason enough to check this set out."
Boomkat (My Life In Rooms)
"Coming across like a ghostly Calexico jamming with Radiohead, Barzin up their game for second album ‘My Life in Rooms’. Verging on, but not quite Americana, this excellent album is liberally drenched in slide guitar and slowcore drums, with opening track ‘Let’s Go Driving’ sounding remarkably like Radiohead’s ‘Nice Dream’, a dreamy haze of track that perfectly sets the mood for whats to follow. Recommended."
The Sun (My Life In Rooms)
"Canadian singer Barzin likes to take things real slow. His moody sound washes probably make him the polar musical opposite of The Ramones. There’s much to admire, however, as he fuses spacey acoustica with sophisticated effects. As the title suggests, he probably ought to get out more… but this is a soothing triumph."
(4/5)
Tasty Fanzine (My Life In Rooms)
"Second release for Canadians Barzin, first on London based label Monotreme, and what a delight it is. This is a masterpiece in slow, melodic melancholy, occupying similar territories to the early work of the ‘Red House Painters’ and original slow core luminaries ‘Low’. Assured and confident song writing complement its languid mood and the only disappointment arrives when it ends. Highly recommended."
Americana UK (My Life In Rooms)
"Canadian slow- core entrepreneur’s create wide ambient sound scapes to set songs for second album to....
Originally a solo project in the mid 90’s, the concept of Barzin has evolved in the last decade, or so, and developed into more of a collective for My Life in Windows, their second and most fully realised album to date.
In spite of the additional input, these songs remain deeply personal and exclusive to their author. ‘My Life in Rooms’, ‘Lets Go Driving’ and ‘So Much Time to Call My Own’ almost feels like an invasion of privacy to sit and listen to them.
‘Here is the one thing I’ve followed; here is my life, my life in rooms Taking notes for myself of all the things to not become’ (Lets Go Driving)
Sonically, the tracks are draped in an aching pedal steel with keyboards and vibraphone to only slightly augment the sparse arrangements. When drums are employed, it tends to be a slow pulsing metronome, electronically treated that could easily be mistaken for a drum machine. Barzin’s voice, barely registering above a whisper has more than a passing resemblance to Mark Linkous, in fact, the analogy can be taken as far as to say that Barzin will appeal to anyone who likes Sparklehorse, period. Like there reference points, Barzin have delivered an album of strong songs lyrically with deceptively intricate arrangements; a band that is felt, not heard.
‘All your poems and words they have left you now’ (Leaving Time)
Well, mercifully they were recorded and have found their way out into the wider world. A great late night, red wine and weed album …. I would imagine."
(PG)
Organ Magazine - UK (My Life In Rooms)
"Warm mellow cleansing slowcore alt.country flavoured washes that stop your day and refresh your soul. Melancholic warmth of a delicate Tindersticks/Sparklehorse nature, music that takes off your boots, slows your pulse and eases your mind with those brushed drums and twinkling keys and French horns and velvet strings and lingering vibraphones and just cleansing and just right…"
New Noise (My Life In Rooms)
"It's got to be the Canadian weather that inspires songwriters to compose somber elegies such as the ones that the singularly named Barzin wrote for his second record, 'My Life In Rooms.'
As a follow up to Barzin's self-titled 2003 debut, 'My Life in Rooms' is a dream for those who revel in sad and depressing slowcore music by artists such as the Tindersticks and Mojave 3. Barzin employed the talents of Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers) and Suzanne Hancock, two longtime collaborators, to assist in the performing and recording of the elegant 9-song record that recalls the work – both musically and lyrically – of fellow Canuck, Leonard Cohen
While the description of "somber elegies" brings to mind funeral music, Barzin incorporates enough aspects of chamber pop (vibraphone, French Horn, piano) and Americana-style music (pedal steel guitar) to save the listener from drifting off into a suicidal state though you certainly wouldn't want to pop a mouthful of downers before experiencing this record for the first time.
Comparatively speaking, Barzin could be considered a comfortable counterpart to Mazzy Star, his song 'So Much Time to Call My Own' nicks it's melody line from 'Fade Into You' though heads in a different direction when it hits what could be called the chorus. The singers heavy signs and audible whispers on this song, as well as the rest, lend to the general malaise of one of the most oddly soothing releases in this young new year.
You wouldn't think that an album that was written under a gray cloud would be so captivating and yet Barzin's subtle approach begs listeners to crawl into his world, a world where maybe all he needs to make it through the day is drugs, as he sings on the track 'Just More Drugs'.
'My Life In Rooms' was recorded over a two year period in locations ranging from a Southern Ontario farm to a New York City studio to somebody's basement but the wide breadth of recording locations is not noticeable as the songs flow in and out of each other at the same speed and tone – slow as a turtle and quiet as a sleeping newborn baby.
Cherish this record for what it's worth – a confessional tome written by a musician who doesn't see too many sunny afternoons and who retreats to dark and quiet corners in a coffee shop whenever the opportunity arises."
Warpmart Newsletter - Warp Records (My Life In Rooms)
"From 65daysofstatic's label comes this woozy slomo album of dusty post rock/ new folk sort of stuff. With lots of slide steel guitar, vibraphone and gently whispered vocals, collaborations with famous friends and electronica accompanments, it's all very pretty, full of grace and space with gentle vocals like 'low' on prozac and enthusiasm."
Now Toronto (My Life In Rooms)
"Slow, sad and haunting are the songs on Barzin's latest opus about the possibility of achieving a meaningful life that's dedicated to the arts. That he never comes to a concrete conclusion hardly matters when the music is as affecting as this. Lush, dreamy arrangements flourish alongside Barzin Hosseini's whispered vocals, never threatening to overpower them, just adding to the dramatic atmosphere. With Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers and Suzanne Hancock in the fold, My Life In Rooms is a grand statement indeed, a soul-searching exercise in melancholic minimalism that offers new findings with every listen. Think Sparklehorse minus the heroin and Tindersticks minus the accent and you'll have an idea of where Barzin is coming from, but you'll need to experience My Life In Rooms first-hand to know where he's heading. A must."
Critic’s Pick (NNNN)
iheartmusic.com (My Life In Rooms)
"Featuring such sad bastard staples as Tony Dekker (of Great Lake Swimmers notoriety) and Karen Graves (arranger for Hayden), Barzin's latest release, My Life In Rooms, is a slow, languorous journey. Formed originally in 1995 as a solo project, Barzin has since hopped aboard the collaborative bandwagon. A fortuitous development, as manifested by the rich texture of their latest musical endeavour. In keeping with its late-winter release date, the album listens like a retrospective of the past few months: the sound is bleak and epic. The songs develop almost formulaically, but the formula works pretty well. Alternatingly alienating and soothing, the album draws us off the cold streets into the warmth of its eponymous rooms.
My Life in Rooms is a somewhat melancholy exploration of the relationship between life and art. In "Let's Go Driving," the album's first track, a drive "away" (from life? From bleak city streets?) is proposed; the theme of traveling is developed in "So Much Time to Call My Own". Here, the experience of capturing lived experience in art is both vocally and sonorically present, with the lyrics enhanced by sweeping guitars and horns.
"Leaving Time" is yet another existential foray into the interplay between artistic and physical space. This is not to say that Barzin is utterly mired in a philosophical quagmire. At times bitingly ironic, he comically wonders in "Just More Drugs" whether "maybe what I need is just more drugs?" (Note: if he's talking sedatives, my answer would be a resounding "No!").
My Life In Rooms is a consistent album, featuring gentle instrumentation and softly-crooned melodic ponderings on pretty much every track. The album occurs at an evidently inchoate stage in Barzin's musical development, but is nonetheless full of promise; his quest -- and that of his fans -- for musico-spiritual enlightenment is just beginning."
Epitonic (self titled)
"You could describe Toronto artist Barzin's music as slowcore, but the epithet doesn't really do justice to the depth and intelligence of his compositions. His thoughtful arrangements and gentle melodies often show shades of keening American country-rock and pensive British folk in addition to the morose downtempo indie rock suggested by the word "slowcore"; consequently Barzin's songs have a timelessness, a certain universality rarely found in music of this ilk. The same could be said of his lyrics; they're graceful, economical, and carefully considered, sometimes calling to mind the poetry of another somewhat better known Canadian songwriter named Leonard Cohen."
All Music Guide (self titled)
"This eponymous CD boasts ripe writing skills, delicate arrangements, and exquisite production. Barzin's songs originate from the melancholic indie rock of Low, with hints of the American neo-folk current…There is no weak moment on this album. Recommended"
(4/5)
Splendid Magazine (self titled)
"It's hard to find an album that doesn't force its way into a frame of mind, falling prey to the trappings of positive and negative. With this disc, I never felt I was being cornered, or that I knew what might happen next. I was simply led along, willingly and completely enthralled by a man, a guitar and sparse accompaniment."
www.losingtoday.com (self titled)
"..an enchanting experience...stretches the emotions as it meanders with listless beauty....A delightfully sensitive debut."
Now Toronto (self titled)
"Fans of Idaho and similar slow burners will find much to enjoy in this sad, soft and very, very pretty release."
Earshot (self titled)
"… a sad beauty worthy of entry among the slow-core canon of Red House Painters, Cat Power, Low, et al"
Exclaim (self titled)
"This is an undeniably great album — quiet, gentle and balanced, yet it engulfs the listener with a massive amount of positive radiation of sound, as if piped through the world's largest satellite dish ten feet away from you. It'll make the Geiger counter of good listening hit 11."
www.therecord.com (self titled)
"Spacious and warm arrangements colour Barzin's whispering, soothing voice with delicate clarity..."
Montreal Mirror (self titled)
"Enchanting, soft, subtle, ingenious...an artist to urgently discover." - www.indiepoprock.net "Its guitars, softly cut vocals and moaning and droning keyboards form melancholy textures that drip like January molasses, suggesting classic Canadian and British folk while remaining modern, if only for its dangerously slow pulse."
Altcountrytab (self titled)
"Overall a brilliant Cd from Barzin. I love Cds like this that you just put them on and they wrap you up tight in a mood that you just want to stay in...it's been more than once that I've let this Cd repeat over and over for multiple times. This haunting, gentle style of music isn't pop music that jumps out at you and grabs you with a catchy chorus, it's a style you either get it right or it doesn't work, and Barzin definitely gets it right here. And under all the music lies a great songwriter, the lyrics are up on his website and are interesting pieces to take a look at. Highly recommended Cd"
Americana UK (self titled)
"You feel as if you've just discovered a secret you want to spread."
Silhouette Review (self titled)
"It is Barzin's voice that made me fall in love. Velvet soft… it breaks your heart and sews it back together again, roughly, in not quite the same shape."
Energycastle.com (self titled)
"Barzin’s self-titled debut album is a gorgeous marriage of mood, minimalism and melancholia. Imagine Slint’s quieter moments or Hayden’s more gothic opuses and you’ll have an idea of Barzin’s approach… This is a morose masterpiece, an exercise in understatement that leaves the listener wanting more…"
Rosco Magazine (self titled)
"Barzin takes listeners on tour of his journal entries that is not only intense, but quite rewarding."
M-LA-MUSIC (self titled)
"...a magnificent album that recalls the better moments of Migala and other groups who play calm and languorous music...a pure wonder!"
(8/10)
www.sodapop.it (self titled)
"...simple songs, delicate, soft...warm like an embrace.."
www.i-n-f-r-a.net (self titled)
"Barzin imposes refinement and poetic vision... This first album is full of promises for the future and one can regard Barzin as one of the beautiful revelations of the year 2003."
www.silentscreamzine.com (self titled)
"An album that emotionally recalls purity and innocence.."