Sometimes it\u2019s the smallest touches that make you smile\u2014like a group that plays distinctively 1978-esque New Wave power-pop that names its imprint after a lyric fragment from The Cars\u2019 self-titled debut (\u201cIt\u2019s just a broken lullaby\u201d from \u201cBye Bye Love\u201d). Irish trio Slumberjet\u2019s sound may owe as much to the Beatles and Elvis Costello as Rik Ocasek and company, but the vibe is the vibe, and the nod is both cheeky and dead on target.<\/p>\n
Slumberjet is a vehicle for the songs of Barry O\u2019Brien (vocals and guitar), supported principally by Keith Farrell (bass, production), Aidan O\u2019Grady (drums and percussion) and Duncan Maitland (keyboards), with Eric Mathews contributing occasional brass, and several other guests who help fill out an often quite full band sound. <\/p>\n
The resulting album is resonant, classicist power pop that draws equally from multiple foundational influences in the genre, a well-balanced cocktail of melody and aggression. Opener \u201cThe Strangest Game\u201d sets a lyric charting the prelude to a breakup (\u201cHow many chances do you give? \/ Before you free yourself from all these tears\u201d) to a driving backbeat, with an organ tone fresh off of This Year\u2019s Model<\/i>. The sonic playfulness accelerates on the similarly angst-ridden \u201cThe Letter,\u201d as synth replaces organ, along with firm riffs, breakdowns and build-ups, wordless chanted hooks, and various other power-pop iconography.<\/p>\n
\u201cSisters In The Sky\u201d mixes things up a bit, a mid-tempo, rather lounge-y number featuring piano, brushed drums and horns, later adding strings as well; other than the subtle synth accents, it\u2019s a number that wouldn\u2019t feel out of place on Revolver<\/i>. The rather plainly titled \u201cC Song\u201d delivers punchy guitars and harmonies and an adventurous bass line, with O\u2019Brien\u2019s fiery little solo putting an exclamation point on things.<\/p>\n
\u201cCut Me Out\u201d dials up the \u201990s with hints of both Oasis and Fastball in its simultaneously punchy and swaying feel. Then \u201cUnder The Waves\u201d opens playfully with a carousel melody that then bounces into a heavier tune, with a pulsing, steady back beat, as a funky little synthesizer gradually infiltrates, leading to a nice breakdown-and-bust-out bridge. \u201cSay goodbye to those bitter years,\u201d O\u2019Brien declares on the urgently paced \u201cGone,\u201d with the synth asserting itself again in a dense, shifting arrangement.<\/p>\n
Things continue to evolve on the back end, as Farrell pens the distinctly Beatlesque \u201cYou Stole,\u201d all dreamy vocals over acoustic strums until the horns come in (and I don\u2019t know about you, but it seems to me that turning a word like \u201cfall\u201d into three distinct syllables was a Lennon thing). Up next, \u201cBreakfast Time\u201d pushes the synth up front once more before delving into second-half breakdowns with distorted vocals and heavy chords. Then \u201cFeather Brain (Part 2)\u201d offers an 80-second interlude consisting of keyboards, triangle, and wordless vocals.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The biggest outlier here, \u201cTruth,\u201d falls second to last, a mid-tempo, intense number with heavier guitars than much of the rest of the album. Closer \u201cThanks\u201d is where O\u2019Brien offers a straight-up homage to his first and foremost influences: \u201cThanks for the show. Thanks for all these lessons that I’ve learned,\u201d he sings on a number that smacks of The Fab Four from the opening orchestral flourish (Mellotron?), to the layered and distorted vocals, thumping \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s\u201d backbeat, stabbing blues guitar, oompa horns, and this winking line: \u201cSearching for the sun (well here it comes).\u201d Yes indeed it does.<\/p>\n
Slumberjet may wear their influences on their sleeves, but they are entirely authentic about it; they live inside these familiar sounds and make new, original music with them. Using all the characteristic ingredients, Slumberjet cooks up a hearty meal of classicist power-pop that\u2019s bound to please the palate of any connoisseur of the genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10719],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46809","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-slumberjet","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46809","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=46809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46809"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46809"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}