Broken Wing’s Grace is the brother/sister experimental electronic duo consisting of Phil Tyson and Jessica “Vision at Dawn” Tyson. The project got it’s start back in 2005, “we were living in a basement down in Hopkins (MN) and I had Magix Music Maker on an old computer and a Logitech gaming head set and started putting stuff together…that was our first album ‘Mechanical Butterfly’,” said Phil. After the recording of “Mechanical Butterfly,” the two parted ways and it was not until the 2012, that Jessica returned to Duluth and reunited with her brother and the duo once again began creating music.

The group takes a new step with their latest album “Good Morning, Stars.” “’Mechanical Butterfly’ was all digital and also very angry, there was a lot of anger and angst in that one. This one is done all with hardware (keyboards/non-computer sources) and the lyrics are more enlightened,” said Phil.

Their first album has more of an industrial feel to it, is darker and predominately features more of Phil’s vocals on it. The new album, “Good Morning, Stars,” while it still captures a distinct electronic sound, carries more of a caring and feeling presence in the lyrics which are completely done by Jessica. The new album is a totally DIY (do it yourself) project, even the titles of the songs and credits are handwritten in it.

The album opens up with the track “Dawn of Morning,” which has a spoken word part by Jessica and a soft pulsing synth underlying airy lead synth parts. It sets the tone well for the group’s new sound. With the next track, “Star Children,” the electronic beats border on industrial, but the sung vocals make it clear that this is not the groups intention.

The album at times gets kind of funky with songs like “Dope Axiom” and particularly “Good Morning, Stars.” The bass lines and special synth effects create some interesting blends of sound that well accent the vocals. The album mixes sounds around the flow from ambient and spoken word, to funky and kind of poppy to more industrial and darker. In a sense of being unique with their sound, the album definitely delivers.  

My main criticism with the album is that I wish there would have been more done with the vocals. There are effects on the vocals, but it’s often very subtle. With songs like “Vorpal,” there is a nice digital delay, but it remains at the same level throughout. Another song where the effects shine through is the song “Empirical Data,” the effects fit the song well and there are creepy, less audible, vocals in the background; it is perhaps one of the more industrial songs on the album and stands out with some of the more with dramatic vocal parts, despite being spoken word.  

Other songs just sound raw and some creative usage of effects and especially vocal layering could have definitely made more of a dramatic impact. With everything that’s going on with the synth and beat end, the vocals end up being a little bare in the mix in comparison. Not everything needs to be cranked to the max and distracting, but in certain areas, it can really drive certain parts through. With other styles of music, this might be less noticeable or important, but with electronic music, it’s usually a good way to go. Examples of electronic music that mess around with female vocal layers and effects are Grimes, Bjork and in a very exaggerated, more new age, example, Enya.  

Considering that this is a DIY project with limited gear, the effort by the duo is definitely an original one, especially for the area. There is an ever growing electronic scene in the area but everything coming out has it’s own particular sound. Broken Wing’s Grace definitely holds a unique place in Twin Ports music. Expect to see them playing out in the near future. Their first album can be found by visiting brokenwingsgrace.bandcamp.com or get in touch with them at facebook.com/brokenwingsgrace.