joyce meyer

Total Awesomeness Alert!!

Melody Club - Goodbye To Romance

You can now stream Melody Club's new album on their myspace. I will be starting to do so now, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to say afterward!

UPDATE:
Me going on and on about how brilliant this band is would just be another drop in the already quite large bucket, so I'll forgoe the superlatives and just say that they didn't disappoint this time (and who really thought they would?).

Like their last album, this one seems to be a progression in sound, with an influence on styles of the 60's and 70's. Cheap Trick's shadow looms heavily over this album, and it makes for some thrilling music (though less synth-oriented than before). I think this becomes even more apparent if you go back and listen to their debut and compare it to this.

It's all good, though, because the classic Melody Club songwriting and production is there. And what production!! These guys know how to layer hooks upon hooks upon hooks. Even the pauses between beats are hooks!

I've only given the album one listen so far, but a couple of tracks definitely stood out. Eighteen is a surprising, rocky song that sounds like it was lifted straight from some fantastic rock opera. I didn't know that they had it in them. The saxophone in Devil In You and the wonderfully sung chorus is another highlight, as well as the rollicking, spaghetti-Western beat behind opener On The Run.

She's The Girl combines traditional, synth-style Melody Club with a chorus straight out of a sixties pop group. Lead single Girls Don't Always Wanna Have Fun fits in very well in the context of the album, too, and is one of the rockier tracks. Oh Candy Call Me closes the album with a carnival of sixties-style harmonies, perfect for the summer.

Overall, it's more of a departure for them than I expected, but I am definitely wowed. We'll see how (or if) that impression changes with future listens. For now, thank god we have bands like this in the world!