Yam Haus - Stargazer (2018)

OFFICIAL: http://www.yamhaus.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/yamhaus

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/YAMHAUSBand

Written by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin

Minnesota’s Yam Haus has played together since their high school days and, with adulthood in the offing, are taking their musical passions to the next level. Their debut studio release, Stargazer, includes thirteen songs with robust pop strengths and musical substance blending together in a potent collection. It has a familiar sound and structure for any long time music devotee, but likewise has a thoroughly modern slant stellar production that only amplifies the underlying melodic bedrock sustaining each of the album cuts. Yam Haus manage a surprising degree of stylistic diversity, as well, and the track listing has a sort of natural, flowing coherence we rarely hear from full length releases today. Yam Haus’ mastery of traditional elements, relevant modern sound, and well oiled songwriting mechanics position them to be one of the best new acts in this vein to emerge for some time.

Evocative, echo laden keyboards open the album and title song. There’s a moderate pace set from the first and continues even when the electronic color recedes. Staccato guitar and a straight-forward rhythm section attack carry the load from here, but keyboards retain an important role in the mix. Lars Pruitt’s singing has a strong emotive quality, but likewise pops with approachable charisma – he sounds like a front man, but like one closely connected to his audience.

The same shimmering surface greeting listeners with the opening title track maintains our attention with the second track “West Coast”. It’s impressive how the four piece come off as cagey veterans despite their young age – their confidence is palpable. Synthesizers are integral to the band’s sound in the first two songs, but Lars Pruitt’s vocals are once again the critical piece sending this song over the top. The strong narrative qualities of the song are equally compelling and few two guitar bands are ever able to achieve the same airy dance Pruitt and Seth Blum’s partnership achieves on Stargazer.

“Kingdom” opens with a synth-driven fanfare before Jake Felstow’s drumming enters and gives the song a more definable, dramatic shape. The assortment of tempo shifts contained within “Kingdom” surrounds Pruitt’s vocals with urgent dynamic energy and he explores his upper register meaningfully for the first time on the debut. Yam Haus’ creativity is even further displayed during the second half of the song when acoustic guitar emerges from the mix with notable effects.

“Bad News” begins with synthesizers riffing in slightly disjointed fashion and the arrangement continues along these lines even when the song begins in earnest. There’s a lot going on in this thoroughly modern tune and Felstow’s drumming holds it together without ever dominating the spotlight, but the synth playing is especially inventive. The guitars in “Bad News” bring some extra bite to the track, but they assume an even more prominent role with the number “We Are the Storm” and flex their muscles during the song’s big screen chorus. Yam Haus has written and recorded an album well beyond their years with Stargazer and sound primed to go far.

Astronomique - Sharp Divide (2018)

OFFICIAL: http://www.astronomiquemusic.com

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/astronomiqueband/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Astronomiques

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/astronomiques/

BANDCAMP: https://astronomique.bandcamp.com

Written by Mike Yoder, posted by blog admin

Sharp Divide is the first full length album from synth pop four piece Astronomique and a memorable release from beginning to end. The ten songs included with this album cover a gamut of synth pop poses and capture listener’s imagination from the first with the relaxed atmospherics behind the song “Forefathers”. The synth pop leanings of Astronomique seek out instrumental balance a lot more than many typical acts in this style do, but there’s no question the material deserves the label. The assertive performances from drummer Mitch Billings and bass player Preston Saari, however, always keep the band near funky or pop rock with the muscular performances they often provide. “Side of Your Mind” has more energy than the opener, primarily concentrated around the synthesizer playing, but Hogan’s guitar brings a lot to this song as well. Fongemie gives a loose-limbed, confident performance striding through the song and her synthesizer playing is likewise top notch, especially a short instrumental break she takes in the song’s second half.

“We Disappear” begins with a synth fanfare, a common introduction on Sharp Divide, soon transforming into a song with a consistent thudding pulse reverberating throughout the track’s entirety. The base of the performance is, of course, the tandem of Saari and Billings and the guitar takes a supporting role to the synthesizers in terms of providing instrumental color. “Losing Our Control” returns the guitar to a pivotal position in the mix while still keeping Fongemie’s synthesizer work up front as well. One of the crucial factors sending this song over the top is the five star vocal Fongemie provides. The feel noticeably darkens with the album’s title song, but there’s some reprieve in the track as both the chorus and bridge alike features some lovely, distinct guitar work from Sean Hogan.

“Smoke” has a tighter lock on the synthesizer as a lead instrument than most songs on Sharp Divide and both Hogan’s guitar and Fongemie’s singing are arguably more adorned with theatrics than any of the previous cuts. It’s another fine lyric on an album that may not be properly appreciated for its writing, but Fongemie and Hogan do a superb job bringing together seeming disparate influences and ideas into a coherent, deeply artistic whole. Mitch Billings’ drumming generates a nice trot for the song “Unspoken” and the crystalline guitar fills from Hogan are quite complementary to Fongemie’s voice. Coming back to back with “Smoke”, the two songs launch the album’s second half in a memorable way. The album’s concluding curtain “Heading to Nowhere” is a final tortured musical missive from Astronomique’s creative world and the pairing of Fongemie’s voice with the effects directed band sound makes for compelling listening. Even if they are a synth pop band, there’s plenty going on with Astronomique to help them draw fans from multiple different styles and that’s a testament to the level of accomplishment and polish they bring to their latest release Sharp Divide.

Ben Brookes - The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon (2017)

OFFICIAL: http://benbrookes.com/

FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/benbrookesmusic

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/benbrookesmusic

INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/benbrookesmusic

Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin

The release The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon from Ben Brookes might sport a relatively unwieldy title, but there’s not an ounce of fat on even one of the songs and Brookes’ vocal performance is one of the overall best on a studio recording in the last two decades. His songwriting skills are equally strong both musically and lyrically – Brookes’ words often reveal more than they say and listeners can glean his meaning from much the material while still being able to walk away with meanings of their own. Producer and former Badfinger member Mark Healey shepherds these songs in such a way that the sonic blueprint brings out the best in each one and certainly invests his voice with warmth and enough edge to captivate any listener. Another former Badfinger member Joey Molland makes significant musical contributions to the release and he’s joined by equally important contributors’ keyboardist Greg Inhofer and drummer Michael Bland.

The subtle light and shade personifying much of his songwriting mood finds its earliest expression with the opener “I Wanna Go Home”. Much of The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon is defined by acoustic guitars mixed with a dollop of lead electric guitar added for good measure and come off sometimes as slightly super charged folk rock numbers. Other times they recall Brookes’ obvious influences like The Beatles and some not so quite obvious influences like Cat Stevens’ work from his prime years. The opener falls into the second of those two types and has a distinct English presence all the more marvelously considering the album was, essentially, brought to life in a midwestern American studio. Other effective tunes in the acoustic vein are the lyrical wide-lens on “Integration (Not Segregation)”, “Asleep in Galilee”, and “Before Sunlight”. The final two of the aforementioned trio are among the finest moments on the album and will likely hold a place in any set list he performs for the rest of his career. The last track, “Before Sunlight”, is an especially stunning tune thanks to its powerful vocal melody and the resulting performance from Brookes, but “Asleep in Galilee” has inexorable internal movement that will enchant a number of listeners and a winning vocal from Brookes.

The second half of the album finds Brookes stretching out a little and making the electric guitar more a focal point of his recordings. “Stories in the Rain” and the second to last song on the album “Somewhere Around Eight” are both excellent numbers with appropriately physical guitar and especially passionate vocals from Brookes. The folky vibe mentioned earlier makes its presence felt for a final time on the song “Siren” and the closer “Shackles” mixes a relatively downbeat lyrical message with some more of the bright instrumentation that defines the release. There’s some particularly evocative lead guitar scattered throughout the second half of “Shackles” that helps make it even more ideal of a closer. The Motor Car & The Weather Balloon is one of the most complete rock and pop releases in the last two decades and it is no stretch to say that Ben Brookes is poised to establish himself as one of the genre’s more formidable talents.

This Pale Fire - Alchemy (2017)

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thispalefire/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/palefiretweets

Written by Jason Hillenburg

Corban Koschak, working under the banner This Pale Fire, is a musical exponent from a, perhaps superficially, unlikely quarter. His New Zealand upbringing doesn’t put any sort of noticeable spin on his work but has allowed him to come of age in an incubator of sorts that fostered his talent more than might have proven possible in musical hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, London, et al. His brief tenure in the public spotlight has drawn favorable comparisons to Thom York, but he ultimately stands alone as a vocalist, musician, and songwriter. There’s an idiosyncratic quality defining the dozen songs on his first full length album Alchemy and enlisting the help of Levi Patel to realize the collection’s production needs. They have produced an artful and deeply emotional musical testament bubbling with the potential to send Koschak’s career into orbit.

The opener “Northern Lights” rings out with a great guitar sound and enormous delicacy. Koschak has an outstanding voice for this material and an obviously innate understanding of how to best frame it within a vocal melody, juxtaposed against a rich arrangement tied together with warm, sinewy guitar lines. There’s some light echo and reverb applied to the guitar on “Virago” and the six string melody has a slightly disjointed slant that sets the tune apart. There’s conventional and unconventional percussion alike providing a pulse for the song. Much of the rhythm track has a light snap reminiscent of typing on a manual typewriter while other sections of the song are anchored by a deep, yet ghostly pulse. “Float Out” is a much straighter affair than we’ve heard thus far and has appealing melodic virtues certain to find favor both on the recording and possible live performances. The same production style defining the earlier songs remains in full effect and does a particular excellent job of helping this cut stand out from the pack.

The hushed acoustic landscape opening “The Sky” has enough of a melodic hook to pull us in and Koschak’s voice introduced to the mix seals the deal. It’s a brief piece, not even clocking in at two minutes, and wafts by with intimate, elegiac grace. “Wolf” is, essentially, a solo performance as well with Koschak returning to the acoustic fueled musing of the aforementioned song, but there’s an added gossamer thin keyboard backdrop imbuing the arrangement with a dollop of color. Theatricality comes through a little more with the song “End of Science” and the unusual quality heard in its introduction translates into a fragile delicacy hinging on the melodic chemistry between Koschak’s voice and the other instruments. It’s one of the finest moments on Alchemy and culminates beautifully with some tasteful drumming and vocal work.

Keyboards and piano weave together to spectacular effect on the album’s finale “Outro”. As the title implies, the closing number is primarily instrumental, but Koschak’s singing and a fine, albeit brief, lyric adds to the song’s luster. It’s a near orchestral moment for This Pale Fire’s music and brings Alchemy to a suitably lyrical conclusion. Corban Koschak’s songwriting, musical, and vocal talents are far too immense to remained confined to his island home and his increasing global exposure will expand his scope and bring him the critical attention he richly deserves.