No Other Option
Working Nights
A portland rock/jazz artist! I’ve heard these songs played many times live and they really have SO much energy, the guitarist is incredible and the rhythm section is extremely tight with bright and articulate bass.
overall
Reminiscent of Oasis, or a thousand other rock bands, but with its own twist. I feel like I could slip some of these songs in with some Jack White and not notice except for the obvious different vocalists. Also reminds me of Stray Cats, its all very jazzy and rock and a little romantic.
links
Here are my thoughts for each song below:
Mess A Good Thing
loud and rocky, rhythmic and driving. The riffs are fun, reminds me of the Dead Weather specifically. The vocalist is really nice, I’d love to know who it is but the bandcamp credits provide no insight. The rhythm of vocals and how it syncs up with the other parts is very fun, the crunch in the guitar is just enough without being too much. The chorus has a fun a hook that kept me interested and I really enjoyed the variety of vocal presentations and timbre. The song feels like a constant drive, without letting up, the bass line feels very tight while still featuring a lot of runs and little flourishes.
There is a guitar solo/transition part partway in that I wasn’t particularly inspired by but its effective to get in to the next section. The whole band in unity during the outro is really fun, it feels like all these parts suddenly collapse into one!
Couldn’t Sleep
Much more spacey! Cage the Elephant if I had to compare it to something, with the spacey guitar and heavy slow bass, but the vocals are very pretty. Chord progression is interested and I can feel it building up a little which is interesting! Lots of little reprieves throughout. I love the build just before 2:10, and the bass part really feels wonderful after, the tone is gorgeous and the part feels like it takes center stage for a while but still has the harmonic foundation in mind. The bass walk up to the guitar solo part is fun, and then the trade off between guitar and bass feels nice! normally a bass solo feels like flubbery nothing so this is nice and refreshing and articulate. The staccato parts help. The outro is not my favorite, it feels like the momentum dies, but the chords are still moving and keep me invested until the end, but the last chord might feel a little cheesy
Working Nights
woooooo! Rhythm! This is suddenly so bouncy its making me want to bounce around a little! The syncopated guitar part is fast and fun, and then dropping immediately into that arpeggiated section before the turnaround is fun! The lyrics are familiar, not particularly deep but they fit the song very well. The bass feels like it takes the spotlight again a lot, best listened with decent headphones for sure. I have heard this song live and its one of my favorite, it feels like its never going to end.
Vocals jumping up is really good, the tone is still really good, that vocal distortion is SOO sweet. The vocalist really knew what they were doing here stylistically.
Move Along
Suddenly were going slow again! I wonder how this will turn out because so far all the slow songs have picked up through out. Vocal harmonies are fun!
The little band stops before the chorus is cool! The chords walking down stand out in a nice way. “One in a million chance of getting what we both want.” The vocals are a cute romance story with a sad twinge.
Oh hey were gettin a little bluesy with the guitar solo. I like that it continues into the chorus section instead of ducking out for it, feels appropriate for the theme of the song and not being able to move along ( to the next section ) .
Stone Arch
The descending root note is fun! And suddenly were the fratellis, the rhythm is extremely fun! Some latin rock influences for sure and the guitar and bass feel like one instrument at times. The fast guitar solo extremely up there, then suddenly dropping into slow chords really primed me for the next chorus, I knew what was coming as soon as the first chord played The outro seems very appropriate, letting the guitar do one last little run before landing on the tonic with the rest of the band. This song was definitely one of my favorites to hear live too, it just keeps! going! :)