Lonesome, haunting alt rock. Beautiful, full songs. Think a Coldplay/Radiohead splice, also some U2, and throw in some Pink Floyd dreaminess for good measure. Echoing voice and guitar weave masterfully together with crashing drums and deep, reverberating synths. All the reverb and echoes and crashes makes you feel small amid the music, transporting you high into a spinning night sky. The addition of a new guitar and keyboard to the band has taken the formerly alt-country group in new direction only slightly hinted at in all their previous recordings.
FCC clean. Picks: 1,3,(5),7,10
***1) Heavy reverb, very deep bass running in back. This song flows like a long slow smooth tide. Very high guitar picking is nice contrast to rest of instrumentation. Song sums up the heart of new sound.
2) Drum driven. A little faster and louder. Soaring voice.
***3) Wonderful guitar running behind entire song. Again a great soaring echoing voice. A tad reminiscent of U2.
4) A divergence from rest of CD. Harder guitar, more feedback. Voice doesn't soar: more clashes with the awkward beat.
***5) Again unlike rest of CD, but good. Opens with Hawaii Five-O themed guitar riffs. Titled "Off The Record" playing further off the cop show beat. Even sounds like they throw in a siren periodically. Dreamy fullness merges with nice, new flavor.
6) A little carnival beat to this one. But slowly getting back to echoing, reverberating, haunting heart of this album.
***7) A good guitar track--nice interplay in opening. A more definite, clearly structured song. Very catchy. More emotional (albeit less dreamy) vocals. The instruments weave together great on. Fell in love with this one.
8) Drums reminiscent of track 2. Definite southern twinge to this track: a little Lynyrd Skynyrd riff and
9) A lot of hand drums and piano in this track. Hints of "off the record" and a little islander sound.
***10) 8:01. Powerful, epic song. Undoubtedly the climax of the CD. Strong echoing feedback guitar strums and drum crashes. A great high picking solo. Emotional vocals again. Combines goods of 1,3, and 7. Fades into 30 seconds of silence at the end.