Pigeonholing music has never been an undemanding activity, especially when music comes from artists with broad and extensive inspiration. This would also be the case of Dutch Rall, if it weren't for his straighfoward self-biography, which clearly indicates David Bowie and Jeff Buckley as the putative fathers of such inspiration. This is actually true more for Dutch Rall's sultry voice than for his deeply cinematic music, generally intent on generating a perfect atmosphere rather than a perfect tune. "12 past midnight" is a collection of eight sonic scene-paintings, where it's very easy to get emotionally lost. The bad (bad? really?) thing about '12 past midnight' is that none of the songs is catchy or potentially radio-friendly, possibly because, like the guy himself says in the cd's inner cover, 'context is everything'. That's why the good thing about '12 past midnight' is that, er, all the songs are not potential singles, but form a consistent corpus of art-rock trips, where electronica perfectly blends with urban soul, clearly recalling those guys who people know as The Blue Nile. Dutch Rall is unmistakably talented, his vocal range is impressive, his voice is sensually fragile and the sound he has created (created, not borrowed) is intriguing, to say the least, certainly very unconventional. Maybe too unconventional, for all the soundbiters out there. And this has spoken for itself: will Dutch Rall ever become a star? Maybe, maybe a cult star for torch-song fans, night-worshippers and romantic people who care to listen to music, not just hear it. And, of course, for all the Rainsounders out there, who will definitely love spending one of their late nights with nightly, warm soundscapes.

Dutch Rall