Lian Ray - Rose (2020)

In a previous life, the Frenchman Lian Ray was frontman of the indie band Rhesus. Today Lian Ray makes sweet-voiced pop music. His solo debut Rose should have been released years ago, but due to private circumstances the album remained on the shelf for years.

Rose was written and recorded in Berlin in the period 2012-2013. The recordings were mastered in New York by legendary sound engineer Bob Ludwig, who has worked on the sound of just about every band between Led Zeppelin and Daftpunk in his long career.

Rose is a lyrically melancholy pop album in which Lian Ray sings his frustrations about a destructive but broken love. Something Ray can hardly let go of. That he has a hard time is evident from his English texts.
The record opens with an introspective but villainous piano song: "You are a coward, and I am a liar, oh what a perfect match". It is a prelude to the beautifully orchestrated title song "Rose": "Your eyes are powder blue, they know the things that I once knew". "Demons" is slightly more musically set with moody piano sounds and violin and an echoing guitar that is slightly more prominent in the mix. And the latter is pleasant. For example, he desperately sings in Mateo: “Are you sorry? What a cruel little bitch you are. ”

Still, after a few songs something starts to wring. The theme of heartbreak is taken very far. Whether Rose has been Ray's muse or not, ten songs "luduvudu" is too much. More lyrical variation would make the album more digestible.

If you want to make the ultimate theme album about a lost love, then the emotions must also find their way out in all grades and shapes, with all the musical and emotional excesses that come with it. Because it is lacking on Rose and the album drags on at the same leisurely pace, attention fades. Maybe it's time for a new muse!