Aloha to you, Aloha
Doing things the only way they know how; skewed.
Aloha
Home Acres
Released on Mar 09, 2010
The
East coast foursome that is Aloha began as a staggered experimental
pop project starting in the late 90’s. Their first full length
album was released two years after the band formed and an album about
every two years since. Aloha’s preceding albums received mediocre
reviews, but that’s the beauty of an album, it’s a whole new start
each time.
Aloha takes the liberty of playing some gems throughout Home Acres. The electricity from the starting gate in “Building a Fire” temporarily creates a revitalizing perspective of them. This industrial styled intro perfectly fits the title and builds into a dissonant harmony with piano and voice joining in the force. The crescendo never peaks, but stays steady throughout; a perfect opener, leaving you wanting more. And they give you more.
“Moonless March” appropriately raises the energy as the album truly begins. The dissonance of the music complements the singing like black and white. A rasp and a pureness coalesced, creating uniqueness. The fullness of the sound and the high energy persuades a toe to be tapped.
“Everything Goes My Way” goes their way. This somber tune employs affective bursts of volume. The song builds into a full, emotional-ridden crescendo giving it a psychedelic feel and fades to an end.
“White Wind” gracefully leads back into the energy we all yearn for in “Cold Storage.” This grooving track is lead by a quickly thumping kick drum and a steady bass line. Piano chimes into the mix near the end and begins to play with rhythms and meanders as the song comes to an end.
The slow ending just ticks by as “Blackout” quickly cuts in with out missing a beat. This song is saturated with a full head of steam all the way through, not a second to spare. The tickling of the guitar accompanied with the fluid fills and rhythm from the drums plays to the voice precisely. Voice and piano take turns, as not to interrupt each other’s graceful harmony; the piano mimicking the lyrical tones. After a breakdown, isolating the drums and the industrial burble, the song is capped off abruptly.
Upbeat and giddy are no strange emotions roused throughout Aloha’s tunage. “Waterwheel” is an example. This is not their strong suit, but it’s a safe song. Not too many groups can teeter on so many levels of experimental and succeed each time. An enticing intro never amounts to a satisfactory level; it remains stale, leaving room for one guitar solo. It never returns to the level of the solo, disappointedly so.
The album remains in state of decay with “I’m in Trouble.” This sour track doesn’t do them any justice. They are better than this song and they ought to know. ‘Safe’ is the only word to describe this track. Safe should never remotely describe anything related for any experimental band.
High Point
The dissonance along with percussion is flawless and when employed the high energy is captivating.
Low Point
They don’t always go with the high energy tunes and the slow ones lack immensely.
Posted by Daniel Wehrli on Mar 10, 2010 @ 6:00 am
