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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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Saint John and the Revelations
Halo
Independent
“Maybe now you’ll sleep a quiet night/No more ghosts squeezing your chest so tight,” sings Saint John on his band’s new E.P. Halo. It sounds like a good plan, but listening to the five numbers that make up Halo, one can discern that Saint John, though he’s all for an unencumbered guilt-free slumber, doesn’t think that’s something most of us are having. Filled with tuneful mediations on regret, loss and morality, Halo demonstrates that this two-man band from Venice, CA come with remarkable depth. “Gods Among Men” is a percussive wonder, featuring big watery drumbeats; “Impure” jangles away while Saint John cryptically informs us, “I know now what has happened here…” Loaded with elliptical revelations—many of which, because of the lack of lyrical specificity, we aren’t in on, Halo comes across more as an affirmation that we’re lost more than we need to be found. It’s the stumbling in the night that interests Saint John and his trusty keyboardist Gabriel. Elsewhere, “Parallax” is a heaving rocker, while “Take Me” is an acoustic number that comes with all the precision of Jack Johnson’s best work.
--Alex Green
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