I didn’t want to write one of those “this is the best CD I’ve
\never heard” that every music reviewer seems obliged to do at least
\n1000 times during their writing career. There comes a time where a
\nreviewer realizes that damn, there are a zillion awesome musicians
\nin the world and that hearing them is a blessing because it could
\nbe one of the zillion that I know I’ll never hear.<\/p>\n
That said, Spitalfield is my personal favorite band to hit my
\nears in 2003. This disc has lived in my CD player since receiving a
\npre-release copy of it in May of 2003. I have listened to the
\nintricate melodies of lead vocalist\/guitarist Mark Rose, sometimes
\nseveral times a day, relishing in the maturity and the confidence
\nthat surges from not only his delivery of emotional-overload
\nlyrics, but also from the little touches this band has thrown into
\ntheir music<\/p>\n
For example, few bands in the rock category would tastefully
\nemploy tonal bells, but in “Kill the Drama,” they accent the
\nmelody. Another inspired touch is the way the band falls into a
\nhushed chant for the lyrics “Stay awake tonight \/ Forget about your
\nlast good-bye \/ Now don’t say sorry” in “Five Days and Counting.”
\nThe vocals sound excellent.<\/p>\n
What I really like about this band is that their tenacity for
\nwriting good songs for the band. The aforementioned “Kill the
\nDrama” and especially “Stolen from Some Great Writer” focus on the
\nband as a unit. Bassist TJ Minich and drummer JD Romero seem to
\nrejoice in being able to lay down a thick underbelly for guitarist
\nDan Lowder and Rose to play over. Romero’s tasteful hi-hat work is
\nimpressive as well.<\/p>\n
There’s a reserved confrontationalism in Rose’s delivery of his
\nlyrics. “Fairweather Friend” is a dismissal of a “fairweather
\nfriend” who will “choke on those words \/ no one can swallow that
\nmuch pride \/ and my contentions all ring true \/ Every word you said
\nwas a lie.” Rose’s vocal style is a “regular” vocalist, but he
\nstretches his range as he sings the last verse. It’s just another
\nof the touches that makes this music special. Final track is the
\nnail in the coffin, though. “Make My Heart Attack” has the lyrics
\nthat sound like a gushy, mushy, love ballad from the 80s (Sheriff’s
\n“When I’m With You”), but this song is delivered with all the
\nnuances that would make the song cheesy in this era. Instead, Rose
\nsings, “And I miss you \/ Don’t you miss me? \/ I don’t know just
\nwhere to start \/ It’s like, when I’m without you, things just fall
\napart.” If I had to pick one song that exemplifies this band, I’d
\nsay it’s this one. Each member capitalizes on their contribution to
\nthe whole and have constructed a truly excellent song.<\/p>\n
I hope you will check out Spitalfield. I have finally realized
\nthat the only way for this deserving band to get the recognition
\nthey deserve is to let others know about them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6970],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37854","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-spitalfield","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37854"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}