The Room – The Telling
After decades in the shadows, The Room are back with The Telling, an ambitious and unexpected storytelling album. They’ve created a colorful, visionary album set in a fictional 17th-century European forest, combining ancient mythology with modern musical aesthetics. This is post-punk storytelling at its most theatrical, poetic, and unexpectedly touching. Rather of rehashing their past, The Room uses their post-punk roots as a starting point to combine their sound with folk, gothic romance, and modern production techniques. The story follows a traveling storyteller, a kind of mystical bard, who enters a village with frightening tales of wolves, shapeshifters, tragic love, and revenge. It’s as much a collection of songs as it is a theatrical play or dark fairy tale. The first track, “The Teller,” establishes the basis: sharp-edged post-punk with a rough, streetwise vocal style that pays tribute to the band’s Northern English roots. There is an aura of energy and clarity here, and the British spirit can be seen in the roughness and language. However, the record quickly expands and changes in tone. “Lake Hut” features dreamy female backing vocals that soften the song’s more rough edges and add a sense of pagan folk spirituality. The dialogue of the male lead with the spectral harmonies provides an emotional connection, fixing the fantasy in something human. Perhaps the most unexpected turn is “The Lovers,” an atmospheric ballad that entirely “violates” the band’s post-punk roots. The piece, based on a male-female duet inspired by “beauty and the beast” themes, sounds like a tragic lullaby, romantic, cursed, and dreamy. It is one of the album’s emotional hooks. “Nemesis” returns the story to present times. Vocoder vocals and modern production upgrade its traditional themes, witch-finders and supernatural revenge, to something more modern and frightening. It’s an incredible contrast: an ancient storytelling presented via a digital perspective. The ending track, “Story’s End,” is particularly special. It’s melodic and interesting, recalling of The Stranglers’ most melancholic moments, with a vocal line that switches between sorrow and seduction. It completes the album’s narrative with a calm, enigmatic departure, rather than a crescendo. The Telling is a unique album: conceptual without deception, traditional but willingly modern.
Photo Credit: The Room photo by Richard Duffy-Howard
https://www.9x9records.co.uk/the-room
