I leave no Stone unturned today! These puns are lethal, Doh!
Andy Stone “You Don’t See Many Of These Nowadays”
Boston native Andy Stone is a McCartney/Davies styled vocalist who puts together his sophomore album with tight hooks and descriptive lyrics. Opening with “It’s Love,” it’s a pastoral melody that’s sparsely orchestrated. Much like George Usher, Andy leads with his vocals out front and the melodies highlighted. While the vocals are okay, it also means a few instrumental parts get toned down a bit too much in the mix, like the bass and rhythm guitars. Luckily, the songs are very well written here like “I Remember Me” which recall The Left Banke slightly. “Talk About Love” is another gem that could’ve fallen off a Spongetones album. Beatles references are added in the obscure “Magic Alex” – and the best tunes here are the simple piano or instrumental bits that play off Andy’s naked vocal, like the wonderful “Your Need.” The songs are very skillfully composed, but also underproduced in my opinion, almost like a demo. Fans of Glen Tilbrook and Mike Mazzarella will also find plenty to enjoy here.
Elephant Stone “The Seven Seas”
High Dials alum Rishi Dhir has struck out on his own, with trippy raga and pop in mind. Produced by by Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) and assisted by Dials guitarist Robbie MacArthur, “The Seven Seas” opens with the gentle jangle of “Bombs, Bomb Away” a slightly psychedelic pop song that you can hum along to. Musically this isn’t that far from The High Dials, although Rishi has his own take on pop that is closer to this band’s namesake: The Stone Roses. This is perfectly pleasing – and tunes like “The Seven Seas” and “Oh Heartbreaker” are great examples of tight melody and rhythm working in sync. Fans of Teenage Fanclub, or The Gurus will surely enjoy these tunes. Eventually Rishi’s Indian influence comes out on the albums second half. We get a sitar based journey in “The Straight Line” which is very trippy, but not that poppy. Then on “Don’t You Know” it becomes a majestic and magical raga pop mix with distorted guitars, sitars and reverb that end the album cleanly. Clearly this is an album that’s “worth the trip!” Already he has a new EP out called “Glass Box.”
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