Kramies & Alma Forrer
Into The Sparks
Hidden Shoal Recordings

'Once Upon a time there was a wonderful songstress named Alma who lived in a beautiful land called Paris. Very far away, up high in the mountains lived a quiet troubadour named Kramies. One day as Kramies was walking through the woods he started to sing a mysterious song. As she was sitting in her garden all those miles away, Alma also started to sing a mysterious song. That fated day, their voices travelled across oceans, over small towns and through dark green forests to meet.... and when they finally collided, they created an ethereal, beautiful new song...' (Kramies' Bandcamp site)

Dutch-American singer-songwriter Kramies Windt has teamed up with French chanteuse Alma Forrer this time. The two of them have come up with a ballad called "Into The Sparks", which in fact holds two versions of the song: a full version and an acoustic version. Their song's vibe and mood is some slow, dreamy folk pop from the chilled zone, with Forrer's voice adding some extra 'mystique' of the exotic kind. This is not as dream-drenched as the pop world of Mazzy Star - which is an even moodier, darker 'two-some' (or band). Kramies' vocals relates to the more lighter melancholy side of folky pop-rock - sitting on a barstool, armed with a guitar on your lap. "Into The Sparks" doesn't set me on fire, nor does it have the necessary spark for the song to ignite. That said, this is a ballad song of the calm and slow type. It might just be me being in the wrong season mood, as I am (soon) heading into the warmth of the summer holiday season. "Into The Sparks" is somewhat nice but nothing more than that.

Copyright © 2016 H. Oppøyen