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 Caught in the Carousel "There will be music despite everything"
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Wave Array
Cheapjack Moon
Indie
It's always exciting to find a local band with promise. Based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, Wave Array's Cheapjack Moon is an impressive debut that showcases their tight musicianship, despite a few minor flaws. The album starts off with the catchy psychedelic rock of "Future Tense," while the brilliantly intricate "Cruise Control" features harder-edged vocals. "Lullaby" starts off acoustic, but then builds to become one of the louder tracks on the album, with vocalist/guitarist Strom Lee yelling the lyrics at the end. The dream-like "Tell Us Tonight" features a superbly dark interlude midway with lines like, "I'm coming up to gut you to pieces." With the softer "Footprints" they go for a more alt-country sound, while "Leave It In" has a sort of magical, ethereal start to it before segueing into a jangly rock number. Lee's voice, however, doesn't always live up to the band's musicianship; on "Traffic," "On The Peel," and "Karmic Impulse," his voice is not strong enough to carry the music. Despite that, there are so many musical layers to each song, that you will discover something new with every repeated listen.
—Jessica Simons
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