As a band that wears its influences on its sonic sleeve,
\nLA-based quartet Cerulean faces a fateful question: where exactly
\nis the borderline between homage — musical emulation — and
\nfromage — plain old cheese?<\/p>\n
The
\nFractions EP<\/i> — Cerulean’s latest production after two
\nprevious indie LPs — feature big-as-the-sky, echo-laden guitars
\nrepeating urgent figures over throbbing basslines and crashing
\ndrums, with dramatic vocals coming over the top. If you loved
\nBoy<\/i> or
\nThe Unforgettable Fire<\/i>, you’ll recognize the sound from the
\nopening notes of kickoff track “Here Is Hoping.” Even the spacious
\nproduction is a dead ringer for mid-’80s U2.<\/p>\n
Alright, there is one X factor. Yes, guitarist Noel Kelly,
\nbassist Jamie Carroll and drummer Dave Cerwonka often sound like a
\nreally talented U2 tribute band, but lead voice Rick Bolander does
\nnot sound much like Bono. No, instead, he is a dead ringer vocally
\nfor Tears For Fears frontman Roland Orzabal. (It’s almost like
\nsomebody hit the wrong button on my local alt-rock station’s
\n“Eighties At Eight” show and played “Bad” and “Shout” at the same
\ntime\u2026.!)<\/p>\n
The aforementioned “Here Is Hoping” and this five-song EP’s
\ncloser “Flames And Semaphores” are the strongest tracks on this
\nbrief disc, with great energy and solid dynamics. The other three
\n(“Like Fading Stars,” “Stop Running,” “Waving In Circles”) didn’t
\nmake as much of an impression on me, despite occasional strong
\nmoments.<\/p>\n
In trying to diagnose the problem, I came to a couple of
\nconclusions. One is that, while the lyrics have a kind of free-form
\nsound-painting appeal, they don’t really connect. They just aren’t
\nvery specific or evocative, and therefore didn’t lead my
\nimagination anywhere in particular. That, in turn, tends to
\nundermine the effect of the music. U2’s big sound achieves a kind
\nof majesty because Bono’s lyrics are typically full of meaning and
\nresonance and urgency. Lacking that emotional core, Cerulean’s
\nvibrant, artfully played music can at times sound overcooked.<\/p>\n
That said, there is a lot to enjoy here — Cerulean is obviously
\na talented bunch, and they’ve nailed a familiar, dynamic sound that
\nI and many other rock fans enjoy a lot. I just think they’d be wise
\nto work on developing the same level of engagement and emotional
\nintensity in the lyrics that they’ve achieved in their music. Of
\ncourse, as always, your mileage may vary — if you just can’t get
\nenough ’80s-style grab-you-by-the-lapels-and-shake Brit-rock,
\nCerulean may well sound like the second coming to you. You say
\ntomato and I say cheese souffl\u00e9… or something like
\nthat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6995],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-37901","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cerulean","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37901","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37901"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}