Short Reviews [Tiffany Apan - 2007 - "Poet"]

Tiffany APAN is based in Pittsburgh, USA, and has established herself in the local goth / horror scene as a model and actor. As singing has been an interest for her all her life, she decided to start recording music as well, with the help of long time associate Jason English. "Poet" is her debut album, and was released early in 2008. Tiffany Apan's background in the goth and horror scene as well as her acting experience comes across pretty strong on this release. The tunes are mostly slow and atmospheric compositions, exploring dark melodic textures and containing many theatrical elements. Besides a few ballads, the songs here most often have a guitar and keyboard foundation, where the harsh sound of the electric guitar contrasts the slicker and more melodic synths. Both instruments mainly play out dark moods though, and in that respect the instruments fill each other out as well as contrasting each other, resulting in dark and gothic moods and atmospheres. Tiffany's contributions to these tunes are in the vocal department, singing in a restrained operatic fashion. She has a strong and melodic voice, adding a high level of contrast to the dark musical foundation and a nice dramatic flair. Her vocal delivery lies somewhere between Lana Lane and Sarah Brightman in style, not as cold as Lane and not as operatic as Brightman, but should probably appeal to fans of both artists that are comfortable with slow-paced gothic tinged rock. On a few tracks the restrained vocal delivery in combination with the mixing doesn't work out though, creating slight discords rather than adding dramatic flair and enhancing the melody. For a self-released debut album this is pretty decent stuff, and it's a pleasure listening to operatic-tinged vocals in a gothic setting that doesn't sound like a second rate version of Nightwish. Fans of artists like Lana Lane and Persephone's Dream might find this release worthwhile investigating, and the atmospheric tunes may also appeal to followers of symphonic rock; especially those who like darker tinged compositions.

OMB: June 6, 2008