Alabaster DePlume A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume's A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole finds its strongest moments in songs like “Oh My Actual Days” and “That Was My Garden”, where spiritual jazz and charged dynamics converge. The reviewer lingers on “Oh My Actual Days” as a somber, mystical opener and praises “That Was My Garden” for its potent melody and memorable lyrics, making them the best tracks on the album. Grounded and quietly incandescent, these pieces exemplify the record's healing intent and the way its textures invite reflection. The album's meditation on self and boundaries makes the best songs into personal revelations rather than mere highlights.

Key Points

• “That Was My Garden” is the best song for its potent melody, memorable lyrics, and dynamic band interplay.
• The album's core strength is its meditative, healing focus realized through spiritual jazz textures and intimate lyricism.

Themes

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume’s A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole reads like an ode to perseverance and quiet absolution, and the best songs on the album prove it. The opener “Oh My Days” is a haunting trudge that sets the tone, while “Thank You My Pain” and “Invincibility” supply the record’s most playful and affecting moments. The reviewer highlights the lithe songcraft of “Form a V” and the closing simplicity of “That Was My Garden” as central to the album’s sense of completion. Taken together, these tracks make clear why listeners searching for the best tracks on A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole will find its emotional tributaries rewarding.

Key Points

• The best song is strongest because it sets the album's tone with haunting, fluctuating dynamics and emotional weight.
• The album's core strengths are its fusion of spoken word with avant-jazz and folkish arrangements, creating an elegiac sense of wholeness.

Themes

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume's A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole finds its best tracks in intimate revelations like “Oh My Actual Days”, “Thank You My Pain”, and “A Paper Man”. The reviewer lingers on how “Oh My Actual Days” frames the record - a palace where saxophone, piano, and violin invite you to savor each day - and praises “Thank You My Pain” for turning gratitude toward suffering into tender song. In the same voice the critic calls “A Paper Man” a furious-then-tender confrontation that resolves into reconciliation, and notes the four consecutive instrumentals as a meditative suite that deepens the album's themes. The piece reads as a careful, affectionate sequel to GOLD, quieter yet urgent, rewarding close listening for its wordless hymns and melodic clarity.

Key Points

• The best song, "Oh My Actual Days," best encapsulates the album's invitation to savor life with its soaring yet gentle arrangement.
• The album's core strengths are intimate lyricism, careful composition, and spiritual, hymn-like instrumental passages that emphasize healing.

Themes

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume's A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole finds its best moments in songs such as “Invincibility” and “That Was My Garden”, where gorgeous, cyclical melodies and swelling arrangements do the emotional heavy lifting. The reviewer keeps returning to how the music - rather than the sometimes divisive spoken vocals - ambushes the listener with beauty, especially when strings and wordless voices double the sax. There is delight in the album's reggae-tinged grooves on tracks like “Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem” and the lusciously upholstered soul of “Form a V”, which together underline why these are often cited as the best tracks on the record. Overall the album is praised for melodies that rise and fall in intensity, making the instrumentals the standout elements of the best songs on A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole.

Key Points

• Instrumental passages like those in "That Was My Garden" are the album's emotional high points.
• The album's core strength is gorgeous, cyclical melodies and arrangements that often outshine the divisive spoken vocals.

Themes

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume fashions a record of gentle repair on A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, where the best songs - “Thank You My Pain”, “A Paper Man” and “That Was My Garden” - act as small, consoling miracles. Vicky Kavanagh’s prose finds DePlume a remarkable saxophonist whose bright, wintery tones on “Oh My Actual Days” lead into folkier, orchestral balm, while “Invincibility” brings beautiful chorals and droning, Nick Drake-like vocals. The review emphasises tenderness for the listener and sweeping orchestral movements as the album’s core, making the best tracks feel like uncomplicated acts of solace. This is a record meant to soothe, reflect and resist vanity, and those highlighted songs exemplify why the album succeeds.

Key Points

• The best song, "Thank You My Pain", stands out because it frames feeling as miraculous in a desensitised world.
• The album’s core strengths are tenderness, sweeping orchestral movements and healing-focused arrangements.

Themes

Critic's Take

Alabaster DePlume leans into the work of repair on A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, and the best songs - “Thank You My Pain”, “Prayer For My Sovereign Dignity” and “Invincibility” - are the ones that enact that healing. Clarke’s prose watches how DePlume’s voice lightens and his saxophone blooms, making “Thank You My Pain” a true centerpiece rather than a mere utterance of gratitude. The triumphant peals on “Prayer For My Sovereign Dignity” and the fragile, urgent coaxing of “Invincibility” are singled out as moments that jolt the listener toward restoration. Throughout, the record’s meticulous, focused production frames these tracks as the clearest expressions of the album’s concept of deliberate healing.

Key Points

• “Thank You My Pain” is best because the vocal transformation and saxophone bloom make its gratitude feel genuine and central.
• The album’s core strength is its focused, intentional approach to healing, articulated through saxophone-led arrangements and martial-arts imagery.

Themes