I can\u2019t resist a band from my hometown of Los Angeles who possess an excellent combination of timeless grooves and cool lyrics. Bravesoul fits all those criteria and then some, and their debut EP, The Sideways Guide To Love, <\/i>would slot in easily on any alternative rock station.<\/p>\n
These guys \u2013 singer-songwriter-guitarist Marty Rod, bassist\/songwriter Eric Noble, and drummer Jason Baksh, along with co-producer Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) \u2013 have a sound that\u2019s hard to describe, except that it\u2019s infinitely accessible. It\u2019s a great blend of pop catchiness in their choruses, rock backbeats and guitar lines, with a touch of soul thrown in there for good measure. As the EP\u2019s title would give away, this is a batch of love songs, but in a twisty, off-kilter sort of way that gives this material its personality and heart. This is love gone wrong, lovers spying on each other, lovers making promises they can\u2019t keep. These are classic themes, spruced up with shiny instrumentation that makes Bravesoul perfect for today\u2019s charts.<\/p>\n
Launching things off is \u201cHeartbreaker,\u201d a solid, soulful ballad that sets the tone for the rest of the EP. I get a tinge of Maroon 5 and the Airborne Toxic Event listening to Bravesoul, but overall, this is a distinctive enough group that they make their own sound on just this short set of songs. Both \u201cHeartbreaker\u201d and \u201cBuild It Up\u201d have a sweet pop vibe to them. The latter is the most straightforward love song on this disc, outfitted with flashes of guitar and some bluesy piano. Meanwhile, Marty Rod is a capable vocalist, moving easily from belting out the choruses to a smooth falsetto.<\/p>\n
But the real highlight of The Sideways Guide To Love <\/i>is \u201cKeyhole,\u201d which is already garnering viral attention. Rod\u2019s vocals take on a deeper, more distinctive tone on this ominous cut, which describes a suspicious lover driven to spy on his significant other. The whole song is brimming with a nervous energy, which comes out in the skittering guitars and Rod\u2019s soaring vocals. When he sings, \u201cI know you\u2019ve got a little secret \/ I know your dirty little secret,\u201d it\u2019s haunting and full of promise. Bravesoul creates universes in this one track, and I can see this one lighting up the rock charts. If you listen to one song by this group, make it this one. \u201cKeyhole\u201d is also where I got my Airborne Toxic Event connection; it\u2019s got that sort of dark underbelly and grit that made \u201cSometime Around Midnight\u201d such a wide hit.<\/p>\n
Next up, \u201cPromise You\u201d steps back a bit from the dark energy of \u201cKeyhole,\u201d but it\u2019s still a lovely pop song, powered along by Baksh\u2019s straightforward drumming and Rod\u2019s effortless vocals. Meanwhile, Bravesoul closes things out on a strong note with \u201cTrouble,\u201d a catchy ode to bad, bad love: \u201cYeah, they told me you were trouble \/ But you don\u2019t look like trouble to me,\u201d Rod sings on the indelible chorus as the instrumentation flashes around him, building to an energetic close. <\/p>\n
The Sideways Guide To Love <\/i>is an excellent glimpse into a band that I predict can make a splash as the year in music unfolds. Check out Bravesoul, and not just because they\u2019re representing my hometown. This is a catchy and soulful group of songs and you\u2019ll be drawn in from the first note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":30890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8807],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42567","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bravesoul","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42567","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42567"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}