Haale

No Ceiling

(Channel A)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Haale released a pair of EPs in 2007 that firmly established her as a talent worth watching – not just someone with potential, but someone who was already delivering on that potential.  The question was:  how would she hold up on a full-length?

Quite beautifully, as it turns out.  No Ceiling perfectly presents Haale’s various influences, showing they can coexist on a single album, while giving her plenty of opportunities to stretch and showcase her rich vocals.  She’s clearly studied at the altar of psychedelic rock and psych-pop, and many of her songs crackle with Eastern influence; honoring her Persian heritage, she’s delved into mystical poetry and Sufi trance.  That description may make the album sound more inaccessible than it is; don’t be scared by the whiff of “world music.”  No Ceiling is a vibrant pop album with a buzzing underbelly of guitars and bracing percussion – and a deeply earthy, affirmative soul.

Lyrically, she explores territory that could tempt lesser singer/songwriters into over-trod Lilith Fair territory – but while contemplating “serenity, connection, and love” would lead others to platitude, it leads Haale to the ecstatic “Chenam Mastam.”  The swelling orchestration and intense vocals rise to meet the subject matter.  For bonus points, she even tips her hat to Kurt Vonnegut in the liner notes (for his quotation about being “smashed on the great big everything”).

“Chenam Mastam” kicks off the best stretch of songs on the album, continuing with “No Ceiling,” the album’s most sensual song, built on a raw electric guitar line and given another orchestral flourish.  The guitar gives a good hook, but again it’s the vocal that makes the song soar.  “Mast” slows things down with a string section and little else beside another powerful vocal.  The translation in the liner notes reveals one of the most direct and most powerful lines on the album:  “How long will you search the skies?  Look here at the earth.”  The magic, as it turns out, is all around us.   Sometimes it even takes us by surprise.