Christian Silva is an enigma. The London-based quartet made some waves with a pair of EPs, Bring His Head (2005) and Break From The Past (2006), previously but 2007 sees Christian Hardy (formerly known as Guy Hardy and formerly the singer for the band Christiansilva) creating his first full-length under the 'Christian Silva' moniker. It's kind of like an E/Eels sort of situation, I gather. Even the least cursory of internet searches yields very little information about Christian (Hardy or Silva), but really it's this mystery that accounts for a great deal of Onward!'s charm.The first, and title, track is an immediate indication of the depth of Christian's talent. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he kicks off his album with some majestic piano work and a voice that envelops the listener like a warm spring breeze. As the song progresses, more instruments and more layers of Christian's vocals are added to the mix, creating a sound that is stately yet slightly restrained. "Onward!" is the lone glimpse of restraint on the entire album, though, and the glam rock elements emerge with the thumping bass line, shrill guitar and incessant tambourine of "Great To Begin". There is more to Onward! than lounge-style piano and glam rock, however. The listener is pulled in ever-changing directions between tender ballads, prog-rock and flamboyant pop.Christian can sing in nearly as many voices as instruments he plays. He shows off his crooning skills on tracks such as the lovely, folky "How To Be A Man" or on the wry waltz "Borders", a song that conjures an image of the singer playing a grand piano in a smoky bar somewhere: "One more night in your bed with your secrets that thrill me/One more night smoking fags, pretending they won't kill me". The ballad "Not That We'd Notice" and the introspective "Insects" are done primarily in falsetto. Bohemian Rhapsody-esque "Break From The Past" has Christian nearly spitting lyrics: "Point your finger at my chest again/Go on I dare you, I fucking dare you!".Onward! is a very ambitious album for a young artist. Such a project could have easily turned disastrous, but superb songwriting and careful production make Onward! quite a masterpiece of a debut album. With all the pianos, guitars, synthesizers, drums, glockenspiels, tambourines, banjos, violins, and practically any other instrument you can think of, much of the album possesses an inflated (in a good way!) sound. Add to those big sounds Christian's mosaic of vocal stylings and proclivity for clever lyrics and unpredictability and it's fairly easy to both predict and expect great things from Christian Silva in 2008 and beyond. Says Christian on his MySpace page: "I am trying my very best to create music that means something to you." Mission accomplished. 92%mp3:> Christian Silva - Borders mp3:> Christian Siva - Not That We'd NoticeLinks Christian Silva [official site] [myspace] [label]