Plume Giant’s New Album is as Strong as They Ever Were

A few years back I wrote about a band called Plume Giant. They sent IHYEB a copy of their EP and I thought they had a very retro-folk sound and I really enjoyed their vocal harmonies and light instrumentation. Since that first EP, Plume Giant and their sound have grown up a bit. Last October, Plume Giant went to Kickstarter to raise funds for a new album and it worked. They were able to successfully raise $10,365, almost $3k more than their $7,500 goal.

Callithump, the groups first full-length album, is the result of that Kickstarter project and it weighs in at 33 minutes of energy, passion and folk-pop fusion.

The album opens strong with “Kensico Dam,” a high energy track with some warm guitar, vocal harmonies and the right mix of percussive sounds. Compared to “I’m on Drugs,” which opened their EP, this track draws you the album with relative ease.

Track 2, “B Side Baby,” is a favorite of mine from the album for both it’s light and playful lyrics but also it’s rising tempo and ability to suck you into the song.

“I’ll be your B Side baby but I want you to be by my side tonight.”

Other tracks don’t grab me as much as the first two do. “November” feels out of place coming off the energy of the first two tracks and “We Got It Made” definitely feels like it’s from another time. “Wait it Out” almost feels like I’m listening to another artist compared to the first four tracks. It’s incredibly enjoyable to listen to but I just wonder if it’s stylistic differences make it a better match for another release. Although the style of “Wait it Out” is odd, “Old Joe the Crow” is defintely out there as well. A storytelling song about a crow named Joe is definitely different from the rest of the songs on the album. I could never really get into this song for a few reasons, one being the story is strange but the chorus line didn’t appeal to me musically.

“Birthday” is when the album starts to get back on track for me. I’m reminded a lot of the group Daughter in this track and it’s strong lyricism balances well with the guitar. The album goes on to finish well with “Before the Sun,” “Smoking Gun,” “Back Porch” and “Aisle Nine.”

In summary, I feel like the album isn’t as strong in the middle as it is on the other two ends but it is composed of great songs and I will definitely be sprinkling them into some of the mixes I make for friends. Callithump comes out next month and you can pre-order the album on Plume Giant’s website and like them on Facebook for more details and also future shows.

As always, I hope your ears bleed. Ω

New John Mayer – Born and Raised

John Mayer released his 5th studio album yesterday.  Born and Raised is straight out of the early 7o’s.  There is no doubt in my mind that Mayer had Neil Young on heavy rotation as he was writing this album.  And if you ask me, that is exactly what he needed to get back on track.  I’ve been a fan of Mayer’s music for a while now.  I think he is a masterful lyricist, always writing straight from the heart, seeking and speaking truth through song.  He seems to be back on track after the misstep that was Battle Studies.  Not that Battle Studies was a terrible record, it just was quite the disappointment after the heartrendingly beautiful Heavier Things and then the oh so groovy and polished Continuum. B and T to me is a great return to form for him, and yet at the same time it is completely new and unlike anything we’ve heard from him so far.

The Bombhappies return with “A Good Fire”

Three years ago, I wrote about a little Swedish outfit called The Bombhappies. I may have engaged in rigging some votes in their favor back in the day, and maybe that vote rigging led them to getting on some podcasts and on the front page of Export Music Sweden. That may have happened.

Okay it did happen, and as a result The Bombhappies and I have maintained somewhat of a distance relationship when it comes to cool tunes. Imagine my surprise when two weeks ago I get an email from Joel Bervquist of The Bombhappies.

Turns out they had just released a new single!

I’m not one to really compare artists to each other, but I’m definitely getting some Michael Stipe out of the vocals in “Ants.” Trust me, I’m not complaining when I say this. Otherwise, I’m really feeling like The Bombhappies have found their sound. Each consecutive listen is driving me to a new aspect of the track and it’s incredibly relaxing. Is this what living in Sweden feels like?

It gets sweeter though, because the full album just dropped last week. I’ve been jamming to it for the last few hours as I was hammering out work on my college newspaper. As stressful as that work should have been, I feel oddly happy. There’s only one thing that could have been the thing that made me less stressed, and it had to have been The Bombhappies.

The mix between faster and slower songs on the album really helps level the album. Like ocean tide, the album brushes in and the pulls back out. At the end you have a sweeping relaxation and you’ll just be dying to put the album back on again. Actually, put it on repeat this time so you can save yourself the trouble next time.

The album closes on the aptly named track “Closure.” In my personal opinion, far too many albums don’t give closure. The Bombhappies found a way to fix it. They’re literally giving your closure.

This little alternative outfit from the cold corner of Europe is worth a listen for sure. I’m not just saying that because I have history with them either. This album has some of my favorite offerings from the group since I first heard them back in 2005, and dare I say they have bested what I once thought their best tracks were.

The Bombhappies’ new album, A Good Fire, is available on iTunes and Amazon MP3 right now. Also, you can preview the entire album on Spotify (which oddly enough also comes from Sweden.)

Jag hoppas öronen blöder. Ω
(That’s Swedish for I hope your ears bleed.)

AA Bondy Wants You to Believe

My day job isn’t running this blog, it’s being the editor of my college newspaper. In that job, I have to make a point to keep any and all biases I might have out. Readers, with this blog I have no such duty to avoid bias, and what I have to say about this album comes from a strong bias I have.

I suppose I should explain this bias I have towards this album. It’s an AA Bias if you will. I’m one of those people who will actually tell you an album changed their life. I’m not sure how it found it’s way to my iTunes library, probably from a music swap with friends, but one day Bondy’s softmore album When the Devils Loose started playing. I think I just hit accidentally hit play on my keyboard, and since A.A. is at the top of my iTunes, it started it. I listened all the way through the album.

It was a rainy day in October, I was pretty stressed out and well… the rest is history. From Mightiest of Guns to The Coal Hits The Fire, I really felt the album. I was transported from my dorm room in Edmond, OK to a Scott Bondy’s living room on a Mississippi night.

Music tastes different after you have yourself a nice big bowl of Bondy. He’s so peaceful, and the musicians he brings with him on his albums compliment him well.

So, needless to say, the idea of another album is pretty exciting. I haven’t forgotten about American Hearts, Bondy’s first album on his own, but it didn’t connect with my the way Devils Loose did. Besides, I wasn’t looking for a prequel; I was looking for a sequel.

Believers is the sequel I’ve been searching for.

The album starts strong. The Heart is Willing is one of the strongest tracks I’ve ever heard from Bondy, and it set a tone for the album that my heart understood a couple miles before my head did (I’m measuring that in miles because I since I do most of my “processing” in my car, it makes more sense to track it in terms of distance than minutes).

The ethereal ending to Heart is Willing goes quite before it leads off into Down in a Fire (Lost Sea). The opening riffs of this song are very Explosions in the Sky-ish, not only in sound but also mood. The song is very somber, very reminiscent of a Sunday evening in November after DST has ended. The track ends with about 45 seconds of delay and feedback effects. A bit different from what I’d expect, but it holds the mood and feels alright.

Skull and Bones is the first track I had to go back and listen to again. I normally like to do my first listen to an album all the way through, but I knew I had missed some stuff about the track and had to go back. The sound of the wind whispering, the harmonizing vocals, the light sounds of brushes on drum heads. The song is very cold. Cold like the first day in September when you should have brought a jacket, but you didn’t because technically it’s still Summer and well the low was only going to be 59, cold. It gave me goosebumps.

But here comes the turning point for the album. Bondy gives us a short break with 123 Dupoy Street and then he lays it on us with Surfer King, and boy does he lay it on thick. When the music swells in at about 3:05, you just ride the wave of sweet, sweet guitary goodness like a surfer king (see what I did there?). This is my favorite track on the album, by far. If you haven’t heard it, go listen to it right now over at NPR. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

After the strong swells and high tides, Bondy takes us on the road for Hiway/Fevers. When I close my eyes I imagine being a passanger in a car, hearing sirens, passing cars and just listening to the sounds of the road at night. Close your eyes, open your ears and free your mind. I have to be careful because it kind of feels like I’m going to be sucked into the song.

It’s not a surprise that the song Drmz has some of the most prominent percussion on the album. The song is a lot lower: in tempo, in tonality and in lyrics. Look at this line, “And if I said I believed in you / We still know what you would do/ Through the door into the blue, it burns.”  It’s a dark look at life, and it pulls me down a bit, so I’m just going to go to the next song.

The Twist has a very different sound. It sounds more like a hybrid of his older stuff and the softer stuff he did as a part of Verbena. I felt broadsided by this track the first time it came on. It was like a different album started playing. It’s a good track, but it doesn’t feel like a part of this album.

I always get nervous when I hit the title track of an album. What if it sucks? To me, I always assume that an album’s title track is the artist’s favorite song, otherwise why would they call it that? Rt. 28/Believers might be Bondy’s favorite song on the album. I don’t know, I didn’t send him or his representation an email to find. If it is however, it’s a great choice. All the qualities that made The Twist feel weird to me are resolved in Rt. 28/Believers, which is great since Bondy gives us seven glorious minutes of slide guitar and soft drums.

Silly name, serious music. Scenes From A Circus wraps up a brilliant third album. I think Rt. 28/Believers is a good ending in itself, but the gapless nature of these two tracks put together just makes it even better. So what I said a few lines ago about seven minutes of glorious wonder ends up being more like 11. The tempo slows, the end feels close. Bondy gives us a few last lyrics, and then its cue the 17 second fade.

This album is good, real good. I mean The Twist is a bit of a “twist” in terms of how the album feels start to finish, but it’s not a ruiner. It feels like it’s either in the wrong place in the lineup more than it feels out of place for the album itself. Either way, I guess I could say I’m a believer now. An AA Believer. #pleasedontbecomeatrendingtopic #whyamiwritinginhashtags

All that said, it is with strong personal bias that I recommend you should stop reading this article right now and go listen to Believers on NPR, or buy it on Amazon (MP3 / CD / Vinyl) or iTunes.

If you’re interested in hearing the album that “changed my life,” When the Devils Loose is on Amazon, iTunes and Spotify.

I hope your ears don’t mind the AA Bias. Ω