Review: Falling Up – Hours (2013)

By Topher Parks

Last year Falling Up introduced The Machine De Ella project to the world, featuring two full-length albums, Hours and Midnight on Earthship. Both records released this past July, with Hours being a concept album driven by an overall indie rock sound.

“The Contract” is the album opener for Hours, a driving song with electronic elements and what sounds like a xylophone during the chorus. Lasting four minutes, “The Contract” is the shortest song on the record, and probably the catchiest as well. “The Climb” follows, with an infectious groove in the background and roaring guitars in the forefront. The long outro is full of an electronic interlude that has an epic feel to it. A few horns sneak into the mix before the song fades away into an a cappella hum. “Finn Hatches a Plan” comes next, which despite its length, is a mostly conventional song. It brings a lot of power with the guitars during the chorus. “The Rest Will Soon Follow” is quite a bit softer and fairly unconventional, especially compared to the last song. Though a decent tune, there’s nothing here that really grabs the listener and pulls him or her into the music like it could. “Aeva and the Waving World” is up next, with an interesting electro-rock sound that is quite enjoyable. The six minutes don’t even seem too long either. “On Growing Things” wraps up the first half of Hours mainly in more of a mellow fashion, as opposed to some of its more upbeat predecessors. However, the unique guitar riff towards the end really sets it apart from some of the band’s other slower songs.

“Intro to the Radio Room” gets the second half of Hours going with more ambience, and an undeniable beauty in the song which almost makes it overwhelming. “The Outsider” comes next, with a tribal vibe underneath the electronics and Jessy Ribordy’s voice, and is another standout. “Blue Ruins” brings the fast ¾ time once again, which has been very prominent throughout the entire album thus far. This one is more of a straight-ahead rock tune, with the electronics only enhancing the sound. “Transmission” follows, and seems to drag on a little, but is overall a pretty solid song. “Prillicians” gets back to that rock sound from “Blue Ruins”, just in 4/4 this time around. The only downside of “Prillicians” is its ending, which feels a bit long and repetitive. “In Echoes Forever” is the final “chapter” of Hours, and wraps up the album very nicely. Like most songs on the record, “In Echoes Forever” shows off its intricacy before fading away with an ambient outro.

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Hours is a fantastic album from start to finish. The sound is quite refreshing, full of unique elements that only add to each other and never really take away from one another. Everything seems to blend together effortlessly, and although there are a few low points, Hours is a sure contender for album of the year.