MUSIC REVIEWS

At the age of 27, Sam Kempe, the multi-instrumentalist behind the moniker Pinewood, shows wisdom and experience in finding his audience. His four-song EP, All Things With Symmetry, is all things under the spell of this talented Georgian. Defining his own way, and taking the leap from band to solo artist, …

Strutting to a groove as sly as it is intriguingly exotic, Ivan Comar and Gabriele Saro’s collaborative single “Open Your Eyes” starts to fill the air around us with a supple harmony. The vocals are as soft as silk, the beat sturdy and formidable, and their interplay forms the backbone …

“Fight for love Every time You feel Deranged” is a note that Alex Alan of Airborn sneaks to listeners in the new release “Deranged”. The peculiar capitalization of certain words gives a natural emphasis and triggers uber focused sensibilities. It’s only when you discover that those same words spell out …

There aren’t many genres in the world that are as naturally abstract and surreal as ambient music is, and rarely has that felt as blissfully obvious as it does in Bitter Lake, the new record from Bloom’s Taxonomy. In this EP, the upstart British experimentalist kicks ambient melodicism up a notch …

Divinely conjoined to an adjacent instrumental wallop and the mighty melody it produces in any given scenario here, Marilyn Castillo’s vocal is the flash point of the most powerful of harmonies in Project Grand Slam’s East Side Sessions. Castillo, along with Alex Blade Silver on sax, is one of the newest …

Clawing out of the silence with nothing more than the sharp talons of a toned electric guitar, Izzie’s Caravan get the ball rolling in their new EP Zephyrs quietly, only hinting at the massive melodies awaiting in the next twenty-four minutes of play. “Holy in Your Smile,” the first song that we …

Following their ravishing release “Halfway”, Chicago alt rockers Dendrons keep the momentum moving with the atmospheric ride “Forgiver”. Forged between rusty rock and garage band punk, Dendrons eliminate any dull moments or low points and thrust out a solid rock tune. “Forgiver” is an awakening, a revelation. A five-member band, …

With pulsating melodic ribbonry to lead the way, “The Distance Between Us,” the first song in SoloS’ new self-titled EP, starts to wrap its slender hook around us with a relaxed ease. These first couple of bars are more than enough to lull listeners into a false sense of security …

A gentle vocal utters sweet French verses to us against a slowly blossoming melody from a nearby guitar, its strings easily as evocative as any single lyric ever could be – if not a bit more so, when it counts the most – as the elegant “Roses De Picardie” begins …

In the original incarnation of AV Super Sunshine’s “Smile,” which was first released back in 2016 on the Bass Face EP, an acoustic guitar provides a near-perfect foundational melody for the acclaimed AV to weave together a soft but brooding lead vocal, and though its strings play a smaller role in “Smile …