The Truckee Brother’s newest album is full
of pitch perfect harmonies, memorable, and melodic
hooks, and a joyous, vintage rock sound. It contains
elements of everything good and enjoyable in the world
of simpler, more song writing focused rock. It didn’t
come off as an exhausting epic of a record when I
finished listening to it, but more like a light, yet
memorable melodic pleasure, which is what I was looking
for after listening to Dream Theater’s newest
this month, which is an exhausting epic.
The album starts out a bit like a progressive album
would, with a loud, and low drone with arpeggios being
plays on the lower keys of a piano. This intro song,
which is appropriately and creatively called Oohlongintro
starts the disc off in an unorthodox way, but I don’t
necessarily think it was a bad choice. Then it kicks
into their classic rock inspired song, GrittyPretty,
which features a great riff played by Cady and Peat
Truckee.
The third song, Kissmykomodo sounds more like a
filler than anything, but it will surely have its
defenders with its purposely simplistic drum groove,
and 60’s sounding guitar solo. The next four
songs, Formulao, Planningforthe21stCentury, Doublehappiniess,
Bonvoyeurage, on the album are a demonstration of
stellar song writing, containing more fantastic riffs,
some very beautiful Coldplay and Radiohead-esque falsetto
singing, mesmerizing harmonies, and some nicely strummed
folk guitar. It is very hard to find so many songs
in a row that are so strikingly unique and dazzling
at the same time.
The eighth song on the album, Purplewavesofgrain,
is a little more experimental and psychedelic than
the other songs on the album, and it is a fine song,
but after such a stunning lineup of songs before it,
it really doesn’t come off as anything spectacular.
Neither does the song that follows it, which is by
far, the hardest rocking and most guitar driven song
on the album, but that in itself is the most memorable
thing about it.
Next, the Zeppelin influenced (think The Battle
of Evermore) I Amnature seeps into your ears with
its folk guitar, and vocal melody sang in two octaves,
one of which is a very low bass. It is certainly one
of the most unique, and pleasing listens on the album.
The following song, Spectre, features a piano driven
melody which sounds incredible, along with a banjo,
and background “Oooo”s behind the main
vocals, until later, where there’s a short break
with distorted bass (played by Ott Truckee), and some
pretty crazy ride cymbal and tom patterns coming from
the drums (played by Hemiway Truckee). It’s
probably the best written song on the album.
Doublehappiness starts coming to a close with Mega
Watt, which features a fairly simple classic rock
influenced riff with some harmonic action, but it
is only two minutes long, which makes it sound more
like another filler song. Then there is the RoyaleFinale,
which shows the Truckee Brother’s wish for continuity
in their album. It is the perfect companion to Ooohlongintro.
The Truckee Brothers are by far, one of the best
modern bands I have heard, that succeed with their
catchy melodies, and harmonies, variety in style,
and very capable musicianship, and this record showcases
all of that perfectly.
Key Tracks: Planningforthe21stCentury , Formulao,
Doublehappiness, Spectre
Reviewed by: Mark Chenoweth
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