While listening to her four free and legal online albums, New Zealand musician Jordan Reyne reminds me of a number of artists yet still manages to be uniquely herself. The first comparison is the most arguable, Reyne’s atmospheric background and her plaintive Celtic vocals hints of Enya yet Reyne is more darkwave than Enya could ever be. More accurate might be the Gothic renderings of Dead Can Dance. I also hear the epic combination of rock and electronic of Peter Gabriel especially on the two later albums. Yet the comparison game can only go so far, Jordan Reyne has clearly carved out a niche of her own.

Passenger (2004) is dark and hypnotic. Reyne remains a haunting vocalist throughout. The title track and “Waiting For The Sun” are stand-out tracks. I do hear that Enya influence, perhaps Enya by way of Brian Eno?

Birds of Prey (1997) is my favorite of the four album and the most accessible. The title tracks gives you a good example of the Peter Gabriel influences. Reyne in a bit sharper in her vocals on this album which rings best on the harder edged tracks like “Perfidity” yet milder songs like “Long Way To Climb” are quite impressive too.

While marked as albums by Jordan Reyne, The Ironman (2000) and The Loneliness of Creatures (2002) appears originally released under the name of Dr. Kevorkian and The Suicide Machine. Changing the name was a good move. Yet these two albums are very different from the artist’s other two efforts. These are dark ambient bordering on drone music. The albums convey a dark and disturbing musical environment. I prefer the other two CDs but these will have their moments for those into dark ambient.

All albums are available in 128kbps MP3. If you like the music, you can also purchase Jordan Reyne’s latest CD, How The Dead Live.

Update: The albums are still available but now require e-mail registration to download.

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