• Consequence
  • Music
  • Film
  • TV
  • Heavy
Menu Consequence
Menu Shop Search Newsletter
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Live
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Contest
Advertisement
  • Reviews
  • Album Reviews

Album Review: OMBRE – Believe You Me

C+

Artists

  • Julianna Barwick
  • OMBRE
Advertisement
Adamkivel
August 24, 2012 | 7:59am ET

    Over there sits Julianna Barwick’s The Magic Place, an album that radiated dreaminess, seemingly endless loops of her angelic vocals towering over an idyllic landscape. Over there sits Roberto Carlos Lange, who records under the name Helado Negro, produces Latin-tinged psych-folk like the sublime Canta Lechuza. Here now, Lange and Barwick decided to record under the name OMBRE, a name fitting for either its meaning as a hair-dying technique (dark at the roots, lightening at the ends, echoing the melding unification) or as an outdated card game (complicated and richly sepia). Rather than compounding the celestial sleepiness of the two artists, winding up in an infinitely blurred dreamland, the collaborative Believe You Me is a complex interplay where each artist’s voice stands out, yet fits in.

    Lange’s lithe psychedelia and Barwick’s pastoral ambience often find their unexpected match in the other’s element on the album. Listening back to Barwick, who’d have known that she would be the perfect backing vocalist for a steamy strummer like “Weight Those Words”? Or that ripples of electronic percussion could push Barwick into Zola Jesus territory so easily and with such shimmering results as “Cara Falsa”? These two didn’t even seem to know, as Lange apparently reached out to Barwick through the internet long ago, the two working on these tracks for nearly two years. But to wind up with tracks like “Sense”  – a choppy, manipulated wonderland where the duo match the glory of The Magic Place — a song that rings so perfectly for one half of the collaboration, shows their complete synchronicity.

    There are moments at which the album relaxes too much, finding itself dangerously near the line of New Age spa music, but these are certainly the minority. The more structured tracks take shape in the slippery bleariness. The limber, insistent “Tormentas” is one of few tracks where the duo sing in straight harmony throughout, with a slouchy saxophone, fingerpicked guitar, and ratcheting bass laying a bed for the two voices to float over. The stars of the track, though, are the tubular bell-like warbles that trill out at intervals to remind that we’re still in a Barwick-y other-world. Dream pop may be a genre du jour, but few produce material quite so dreamy as Believe You Me.

    Advertisement
    Related Video

    Essential Tracks: “Sense”, “Tormentas”

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
Advertisement

Artists

  • Julianna Barwick
  • OMBRE

Sign up for updates

Subscribe to our email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.

Advertisement

Popular Stories

Lisa Marie Presley

Music

Lisa Marie Presley Underwent Extreme Weight Loss Regime Prior to Death

Paul Shaffer World's Most Dangerous Band The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon The Roots

TV

Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band to Fill In for The Roots on Jimmy Fallon

Advertisement

Stay Chill with Koast's Full Spectrum CBD + Delta-8 Gummies

Stay Chill with Koast's Full Spectrum CBD + Delta-8 Gummies

Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper 2023 tour

Heavy Consequence

Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper Announce 2023 North American Tour with Ministry and Filter

showtime paramount+ rename rebrand

Streaming

Showtime Renamed Paramount+ with Showtime in Wild Synergy Orgy

Latest Stories

samia honey album review

Samia Is Bracingly Shameless on Honey

January 26, 2023

billy joel the stranger album review classic opus

Billy Joel's The Stranger Made an Icon Out Of the Piano Man: Classic Album Review

December 16, 2022

herbert album review

Herbert, Ab-Soul's First Album in 6 Years, Finds Him Confident, Comfortable and at His Best

December 16, 2022

sza sos new album stream

On SOS, SZA Once Again Blows Expectations Out of the Water

December 9, 2022

rm indigo review

With Indigo, RM Makes Fleeting Moments Feel Permanent

December 2, 2022

brockhampton the family

BROCKHAMPTON's The Family Is a Curiously Tense, One-Sided "Final" Act

November 17, 2022

kings disease iii review

Nas' King’s Disease III Saves the Best for Last

November 11, 2022

christine and the queens redcar album review les adorables étoiles prologue

Christine and the Queens Presents Redcar Contains a Fantastical, Mythical, and Ever-Evolving World

November 8, 2022

Advertisement

News

  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Tours
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture

Reviews

  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews

Features

  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Guides
  • CoSign
  • Song of the Week

Live

  • Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Photo Galleries
  • Music Instruments & Gear

Heavy

  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts

More

  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Wellness
  • Giveaways

Other sites

  • Heavy Consequence
  • Consequence Media
  • Modern Drummer
  • About
  • Privacy policy
  • Advertising
  • Work For Us
  • Terms
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Download our app

  • Get it on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Consequence
Current story

Album Review: OMBRE - Believe You Me

Menu Shop Search Newsletter
Consequence
News
  • News
  • Music
  • New Music
  • Album Streams
  • Upcoming Releases
  • Tours
  • Film
  • TV
  • Pop Culture
Reviews
  • Music Reviews
  • Film Reviews
  • TV Reviews
  • Concert Reviews
  • Festival Reviews
Features
  • All Features
  • Editorials
  • Interviews
  • Cover Stories
  • Lists
  • Guides
  • CoSign
  • Song of the Week
Live
  • Tickets
  • Festival News
  • Tour Dates
  • Photo Galleries
  • Music Instruments & Gear
Podcasts
  • The Opus
  • Kyle Meredith With...
  • Stanning BTS
  • The Story Behind the Song
  • The What
  • Going There with Dr. Mike
  • The Rome and Duddy Show
Videos
  • Interviews
  • Two for the Road
  • First Time I Heard
  • When I Made
  • Battle of the Bandmates
  • Peer 2 Peer
  • Essays
  • Fan Theories
Heavy
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Concerts
  • Premieres
  • Culture
  • Beyond the Boys Club
  • Mining Metal
Shop
  • Shop
  • Giveaways

Follow Consequence

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitch
  • Tiktok
Close
Close