05.04.06
Minor Feast, Motley Album
Rogue Wave: Descended like Vultures![[image]](http://verywide.net/blog/wp-content/images/misc_others/roguewave-dlv.jpg "Rogue Wave: Descended like Vultures")
There’s a lot of good music out there these days. Sometimes the sheer volume of choices can seem positively overwhelming. Not that that’s a bad thing. But every now and again it would be nice just to know who’s star is really set to rise. Okay, then… Rogue Wave is one band that presents music fans with an easy choice. Like other indie-pop bands, their work refines a standard/style set by successfull garage bands and other talented independents. In this they succeed, though it will take a third album, I think, to fully prove whether their mettle is on a par with the likes of, say, Spoon, or The Shins. For now, they have earned the benefit of the doubt.
Descended Like Vultures, the sophomore offering by the band, starts out slowly with “Bird on a Wire”, an often downright tipsy bit of psychedelia (Ã la The Sunshine Fix, Robyn Hitchcock) featuring lightly sprinkled xylophones, a dash of backmasking, a minor key seasoning, and a sing-along choral fromage that may make you overlook the wistful turns of the lyrics even as your ears consume the song, which somewhat sets the tone for the rest of the album, although the musical thrust ultimately (mostly) leaves the initial psychedelic recipe behind for more traditionally indie (Ã la The Breeders, California Oranges, Spoon) and folksy fare (Ã la Winterpills, Decemberists, Nick Drake).
Lyrically and vocally, Descended like Vultures is a smart album. The layering is well done, the choruses are not overbearing or clichéd even when they are “simple”, and the words are fitted nicely with the music. In terms of the actual mixing, the songs are variable: rough and jangly sometimes, tightly produced at other times. The mixing is, like the lyrics, fitted to the tone and message of the song, which is to say that it seems to be a conscious product and not a non-professional one.
I agree with some reviewers who’ve said that Rogue Wave sound as if they are yet coming into their own sound. There is enough variety in the songs for the album as a whole to border on showcasing une affaire de disparité. But based on this effort, I’ll certainly expect good things from them in future. In other words, I have a lot of praise and no substantial complaints.
