Noruz

Indie Rock. Not really my thing. Shouldn’t have reviewed this. Very much like My Morning Jacket or Band of Horses or something. Slick, well-produced, kind of dreamy rock with some Americana influence. Pleasant but nothing out of the ordinary. No FCCs.

1. Sounds a bit like My Morning Jacket; rustic acoustic strumming with sustained organ and some melodic, almost surfy guitar, bridge is ethereal and airy. (4:24)
2. Melodic choral vocals, lush instrumentation with warm strings, double-tracked vocals, pronounced bass and drums, some epic guitars. (5:52)
3. Dramatic violins, lush, lush, warm production with lots of melodious guitars, adding to the ascending lead string refrain, mellow one. (4:55)
*4. Shimmery, ambient intro, melodic instrumental. Pretty. (2:03)
5. Sentimental vocals more up front here without the Jim James treatment, slow start, more twangy violin, light piano, actually builds nicely. (3:23)
*6. Grainy sample of adult talking to child with slow pathos-laden acoustic and electric guitars, builds to a more aggressive swirl, returns to mellowness with sample. No vocals. (4:20)
7. A little more upbeat, very high vocals, questionable lyrics, bobby rhythm, backing ‘doo doo’ vocals. Ugh. (5:09)
8. Distant relaxed strumming with slow pace, dancey drums come in, cycles through, dreamy textures, kind of interesting in parts with a lightly more daring vocal performance. (5:56)
9. A little bit earthy with relaxed acoustic-bent, some xylophone, relaxed backing vocals. I think fans of Fleet Foxes would like this. (3:40)
*10. More spaced out textures. Reminds me of a little band named Ester Drang. Check them out. Also this track is pretty good at blending space pop and dream rock. (4:03)
11. Another slow tempo with guitar-centric production, gets spaced out and very dreamy, builds kind of predictably, though. (6:34)
12. Brief instrumental. (0:29)
*13. Dramatic, slow, pretty piano, achingly good actually. (2:09)