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Fenech-Soler creates fresh sounds on second LP Rituals

10 Sep

Music can sometimes mess with your emotions. I have heard music that completely alters my mood just after hearing the opening chords. Fenech-Soler, fittingly, has the capacity to do this as well. Their second studio album, Rituals, makes for a great dance soundtrack to everyday life, given life’s daily twists and turns.

 

The sunrise of a fade in that starts the album should get you appropriately pumped for what’s to come. There are as many synths and bass lines as you could want, and I also very much appreciated the steel drums in numbers such as “In Our Blood.” The keyboard creates drama some of the tracks, coming to prominence in “Stonebridge,” the slowest track on the record. The vocals are excited and inspired; paired with the instrumentation, the record becomes infectious and inspiring. The songs vary from lighthearted tunes about falling in love to heavier tracks about losing it. Teenagers will probably label “Lies” as a power electro pop breakup song, because it is perfect the imaginary argument with an ex, shouting “LIES!” in his or her face. (It might catch on with Congressmen as well.) “Two Cities” closes Rituals, doing the whole album prior justice. The song encourages independence, (“We are all that we need!”), before coming to a guitar strum conclusion.

Rituals is out now. Find out more information about Fenech-Soler on their website.

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Ghost Cousin creates spectral melodies on debut album, Scotland

7 Sep

Full disclosure: I love Grizzly Bear. I think that “Two Weeks” is the greatest song I’ve ever heard, I love Daniel Rossen’s voice, and Ed Droste’s Twitter is one of the best. I’m not obsessed with them, but there will be no disrespecting the Bear while I’m around. Enter Ghost Cousin, a band that could be easily labelled poor man’s Grizzly Bear, rich man’s Poor Moon; however they have truly a unique sound that will one day be only theirs.

Scotland is an album that too few people have heard. After listening to it only once, I found myself humming the tune of “Healed Eyes” while darkly brooding. The deliberate rhythm of the album is mesmerizing and gives way to delicate guitar riffs, as in “Run Home.” The songwriting is poetic, creating stories with characters that you grow attached to: a mother, a son, a lover, an enemy. Each track is very endearing, each character a part of your life whether you knew them before or not.

Ghost Cousin is a fairly new band, only having released an EP, “Landscape of Animals,” before this. They are still underwhelmed by the industry it seems, after recording most of this album in a church in their hometown of Edmonton, Canada. They will know the headache of record companies and labels once they come into fame, which I predict will be fairly soon.  At least, I hope so; I don’t want to see Ghost Cousin leave the spotlight for a long while.

Scotland is out now, and you can hear it below. For more information on Ghost Cousin, visit their Facebook.

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Reaching Sainthood: Holy Holy releases serendipitous single, “History”

3 Sep

Holy Holy

What is in the water in Australia? Something great like fluoride obviously, because I have yet again been jamming to a track by a fairly new band from down under. Holy Holy began as a duo of Timothy Carroll and Oscar Dawson, and has been recently expanded to include Ryan Strathie and Graham Ritchie. The group’s name is indicative of the origins of their most recent single, “History”; songwriting borne from a miracle demonstrates just how talented these handsome globetrotters truly are.

Everything about Holy Holy is near-miraculous, in fact. Carroll and Dawson grew up separately in Australia, but met in southeast Asia, and became friends. Then, they both traveled to Europe, happened to meet up in Stockholm, and then decided they should make music together. They shared demos between Stockholm and Berlin for a few years, and are now finally back together in Australia joined by Strathie and Ritchie in the studio. 

The track’s origin shares a certain fortuitous symmetry with the way the band formed. While in the studio laying down some other tracks that they had been working on, they tinkered with a tune they had barely started writing and ended up recording it on the spot. That miracle-baby-song is “History,” which is very rich in lyrical power and rhythmic honesty about the dishonesty of our pasts. “And the only risk you take is that all of your mistakes are right,” condemns Carroll. The song reminds me of the Joshua Oppenheimer documentary, The Act of Killing, an easy example of the winners rewriting history, washing away any stain of corruption or wrongdoing in their own administrations.

I could of course be exaggerating the meaning of “History,” but you can’t blame me for jumping to conclusions, especially conclusions of a politically motivated nature. After all, their single “House of Cards” was written to speak out against the poor treatment of those seeking asylum; looks like Holy Holy is turning out to be quite the U2. Holy Holy has creative melodies, but I would not be surprised if they ended up gaining fame due to their outspoken political views inside those melodies.

“History” is available on iTunes. You can find more information about Holy Holy on their website.

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End-of-Summer Song: “Running Around” by Young Maverick

31 Aug

Let’s face it: summer is coming to a close. We only have a few short weeks to wrap up our summer fun, which means I can finally shed this bikini body that I put on back in April. It’s both cleansing but also disappointing, to know that the weather is about to turn and theaters will lose mindless blockbusters in favor of Oscar bait. And what we’ve learned from those fall movies is that summer romances just aren’t meant to last.

 

“Running Around” is summer love. It is fast, fun, but also causes a little heartache once it ends. But then again, summer romances are disposable, not to be taken seriously. Young Maverick takes heartbreak and forgets about it, because wouldn’t you rather dance than wallow in misery?

Young Maverick is an Aussie quartet that labels their music as “holiday pop,” which made me initially think that they sang Christmas carols. The Americanized translation of their new genre is better stated as “vacation pop,” intending to invoke memories of the fun and carefree times when you were on summer retreat. And it turned out that there could not be a more accurate genre. The swift guitars reminiscent of “Cousins” contrast well with frontman, Robbie Keith’s bored tone to create a great summer song that resonates with all young mavericks who revel in summer hi-jinx.

“Running Around” is off of Young Maverick’s newest EP, Holiday Popular, out now. Visit their website for more information.

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Tell Your Lovers: Empires third album, Orphan, not as sad as it sounds

29 Aug

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but what about when you are creating something completely unique? Sometimes comparison devalues a band or song, making it seem like anyone could achieve that sound, because it’s been done before. Other times it highlights how well an artist was able to break through generic barriers. Most of the time though, it completely depends on context. Empires newest LP, Orphan, manages to impress with a well-developed sound that I could compare to countless bands, without losing a sense of originality.

The first thing that grabs my attention upon hearing the first track, “Silverfire,” is that gravelly voice which reminded me of The National’s Matt Berninger. Sean van Vleet, lead singer of Empires and also the owner of said gravelly voice, tends to keep it steady throughout the record, neither straining to hit a falsetto nor attempting to go to the depth of Matthew Dear. That said, the album has many emotional high and low points. Some songs are short and upbeat, like the title track “Orphan,” whereas others are long and melancholy, such as in “Lifers,” one of my favorites. It’s got a soft melody and cooing guitars, evocative of The Shins- even van Vleet’s voice begins to sound like James Mercer.

 

The most fun on the record is toward the end with “Please Don’t Tell My Lover.” The lyrics are sly and entertaining and the guitar riff is too catchy to not hum along with.  Another great track is “Shadowfaux,” which has a very easily digested structure, false ending and all, making it very natural to move your feet. The only complaint that I have overall is its length, clocking in at just under forty minutes. A solid album with the driving drums and guitars that Empires offers should be longer; expand on those guitar solos, give me two final choruses, something. I suppose the worst that can happen with a short album is that you feel the need to listen to it immediately again because you didn’t get your fill the first time around. And such is my experience with Orphan.

Orphan will be out on 9/23 via Chop Shop/Island Records. Visit their website for more information.

Check out their single, “Please Don’t Tell My Lover”:

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