Faith & Disease: album reviews and ratings

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Reviews & Recommendations

	Faith & Disease

Artist Listing:

S - Z

Line-up:
Dara Rosenwasser - vocals
Eric Cooley - bass, guitars

"Similar to the lush sounds of Mazzy Star and This Mortal Coil, the ethereal darkwave duo Faith & Disease formed the year punk broke (1991) and maintained a solid stance of sold synth-beats and gossamer lyrics in the face of Seattle counterparts Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. Bassist Eric Cooley and vocalist Dara Rosenwasser released the 'Jardeau Blue' single in 1993, and with friend David Goebel, Faith & Disease formed their own label Ivy Records."

-- MacKenzie Wilson, AMG

"Picture the rainy Northwest - - - Seattle to be exact. Silk curtains slowly dance in the damp breeze, chamber music plays quietly on the old turntable as your lover sings quietly to herself across the room. Such is the feeling that is Faith & Disease: minimal, downtempo music . . . ghostly, reverbed guitar, awash with a dreamy mix of cello, flute, piano, gentle percussion, and lilting female vocals."

-- projekt.com

Faith & Disease Discography - Album / CD Reviews

1993: Beauty and Bitterness
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1994: Fortune His Sleep
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1996: Live Songs: Third Body
"The third full-length CD from Seattle's Faith & Disease includes mostly new material recorded live at various locations; The Troubadour in LA, The infamous Crocodile Café in Seattle, King Theater in Seattle, and even a track from Faith & Disease's appearance on the Spud Goodman Show. Also included are two unreleased studio tracks, and an "anomolies" from 1992-94. Overall, Livesongs: Third Body is 11 tracks of moody, slower-tempo ambiance best experienced "in the middle of the night with lights out and headphones on..."

-- Seattle Weekly, 8/96

1998: Insularia
Insularia is the fourth album from Seattle-based Faith & Disease, a four-piece employing the merits of dynamic restraint, sonic ambiance and gentle melodicism as the primary components of its musical blueprint. Led by the strong, unwavering voice of Dara Rosenwasser, the band follows the lead of fellow music-to-nod-off-to notables Spain, Low or Mazzy Star in the design of its minimal, downtempo pieces. Faintly outlined blues and country structures inform most of the songs here, washed over by ghostly reverbed guitar and Rosenwasser's angelic vocals. With the addition of some equally dreamy violin, pedal steel, organ and flute touches, the album takes on an aura of quiet, abstract beauty.

-- Colin Helms, CMJ New Music Report #560 - 3/98

¼ 2000: Beneath The Trees
"For those of a melancholy turn of mind, Faith & Disease's ethereal, otherworldly chamber music for the damned is an ideal soundtrack for the bleak midwinter season. Built around Dara Rosenwasser's lovely voice, coupled with Eric Cooley's guitar and bass, and perfectly complemented by female backing vocals, flute, cello, drums, keyboards, and synth textures, 'Beneath the Trees' feels like a long, shadowed walk in a deserted patch of woods on a gray, bone-chilling day. Most of the tunes are extremely subdued, sometimes so much so that they drag a bit, as on If I Drink from This Cup. But for the most part, the arrangements creatively blend the perfect mix of instruments and musical styles to create the precise mood the band is looking for on each track. Mysterious and haunting, the lyrics sound like cryptic pronouncements from a dark angel, and are often almost maddeningly opaque."

-- Dave Aftandilian, Ink 19 Magazine

½ 2003: Passport to Kunming
"Faith & Disease tried to shake the "gothic" label a couple of years ago by releasing 'Beneath The Trees', a heady confluence of neo-classical and folk rock, but their ethereal goth-loving fans embraced the diverse album just the same. On their new release (their seventh full-length in their decade together), the band takes a minimalist turn. Eric Cooley's warbling bass and Greg Forschler's shimmering, spaced-out guitar provide the moody canvas for Dara Rossenwasser's haunting voice, especially on Between The Folds. She's Got A Halo stands as the disc's first track and also the first single, and it sounds both mesmerizing and heartbreaking. The combination of bass high-tones and mournful vocals cries out like the forgotten love child of New Order and Mazzy Star. There are various of other familiar influences here, too. The fierce, black energy on "Impermanence" sounds eerily reminiscent of the Velvet Underground. Add in a little Slowdive and some distance memories of 4AD Records for good measure when Lost In Translation floats out of the speakers. But no matter what notes of nostalgia you hear on this gorgeous album, it's all Faith & Disease. This may be their quintessential record. Wounded, hopeful, bleak and beautiful-it's a sonic dichotomy."

-- David Slatton, Outburn Magazine

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