Baya Michaelson – The Glass Veil (Album Review)

Two years in the making, The Glass Veil is the new 13-track album by Baya Michaelson. His 18th album, it is also his third with Roland Mars. 

Alexander Cain previously panned the artist’s previous album, but since I’m an affable reviewer, I’ll not be too harsh on The Glass Veil.

First up is ‘Pipes of War’, a short intro. It’s an instrumental that the artist describes as classical. What you get are strings mostly, providing a settled sound, and then some drumming to shake things up and put the listener in suspense mode. It’s really a short intro.

Up next is ‘Blackout Suicide’, a song with an entire title. It’s a title enough to give me the winter chills as I’m reviewing this almost at the beginning of the cold season in South Africa.

The song starts with some lazy and drawn out strings, rapid and bouncy drumming kicking in too. This produces a gritty sound that, however, is tampered with melodic ping-like elements. 

And for the first time, we are introduced to the vocals of what might be a fifty-year-old male. The voice is gruff. ‘So lonely’, the man sings repeatedly. Storywise, there’s not much happening. We have a lyrical persona addressing a person they, strangely, see through the window. The lyrical persona references themselves in the plural, but the song doesn’t tell us who the other person is. However, this person and the lyrical persona see the addressee ‘gathering gloom’. The lyrical persona seems to be giving the addressee some brutal realism, if not cynism. The addressee wants to change their eyes to blue, we hear, but the lyrical persona is of the feeling that dreams seldom come true. There’s something cynical about this, taking into consideration that music tends to be cheery and blissful. The loneliness here is a blackout suicide. The song might not be cheery, but the title said it before.

From the dark elements of the previous number, we get ‘Comic Love’, a cheery song that starts with drumming, a song with springy strings, some cheesy and some growling. The vocals for a while are mellow and inviting. I feel they are somewhat drenched by the instrumentation; another remarkable thing is that the vocals sound AutoTuned. Storywise,  we have a lyrical persona saying they’ll be Superman, while their addressee is Lois Lane. It’s fitting that the song’s title is ‘Comic Love’. But there’s some seriousness, if you will: as the song goes: ‘I just had a dream / You were the main theme’. More than that, the song is also about a man evaluating their worth.

Gruff vocals return in ‘C+’, a song that begins with some springy strings that are joined by drumming. This arrangement makes for an upbeat sound. Storywise, this sounds like a song where the lyrical persona is happy in love, the ‘she’ they’re talking about having told them to squeeze them. But the tension here is that the woman is wealthy and extreme, and the lyrical persona can only write code in C+ to show love.

‘Neon Thing’ is grittier and carries a good dose of distortion. The gruff vocals are no match for the bass and distortion. 

‘The Djin and Jeanie’ come up next. There’s some pulsating instrumentation and relentless steely drumming. The instrumentation fills your ears as if to deafen you. It’s an upbeat song, nevertheless. Storywise, the songwriter takes us to Syria, where the lyrical persona meets a strange man who tells them to fear only two things: the Djin and Jeanie.  I like the vocals; they sound mean and assured. 

With ‘Antique Toy’, the album takes an instrumental break. The song is over a minute, and sounds more composed than the intro. Here, you get some whimsical strings that are somewhat pleasant, but then comes along, if only for a while, some drumming. 

After the instrumental break comes ‘Us’. This is a short song, with the vocals coming along at about 47 seconds. The effect I get is that of a drum being struck in lethargic single strikes. That’s how slow the song’s instrumentation is. The vocals are also lethargic, this time sounding haggard. Storywise, we have the lyrical persona asking whether the cards read clearly tonight, and wanting sage to ‘burn bright for us tonight’. 

‘One Good Knight’ starts with some thick and majestic drumming. The vocals are also thick. The song references a certain Goldie a lot. Goldie is so complete, we hear, but I’m not sure if they’re the good knight of the title.

‘Broomsticks’ is a song with a title that lends itself to wizardry or sorcery. The instrumentation, vocals, and lyrics make this a strange track on the album. It’s more of a simulation (than a song) where some fantastical ritual is happening. Kudos for the creativity, but a proper song would have been better. 

If ‘Broomsticks’ is a spooky song, ‘Haunted’ starts with the title. Anchored by thick drumming, the instrumentation is glitchy with distorted elements. The vocals try to match the instrumentation. Storywise, everything and everyone are haunted in the world Baya Michaelson has created. Best to drop a verse below:

The room is haunted 

The sky is haunted

The walls are haunted

And you are haunted too

Then there’s ‘The Ballad of Grace Jones’. It’s a song where the lyrical persona hears their addressee walking down the boulevard. And at one point, they get depressed, but not for long, since they’re Grace Jones, we hear. 

Closing things off is ‘The Lighthouse’, a song with grungy and zippy instrumentation, although you get some melodic lead guitar as the song progresses. It’s a song that balances the gritty and the melodic. And storywise, we have the lyrical persona musing about the sun coming out tonight. 

SCORE/Good: This is a quirky album, what with everything haunted, a lyrical persona declaring they’re Grace Jones. But then there’s that track on brutal realism, if you will: things seldom get better. Of course, the storytelling can get better. In terms of instrumentation, I enjoyed the use of distortion. It’s a decent album.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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