Absolutely Not Lame`s type of power pop, varied in texture while always rocking, deliciously bruising band playing, high-octane vocals and exceptional guitar work. It`s also ripe to call this `headphone pop`. There`s a lot going on here and pretty much all of it works and it`s hard to find much fault here except to garnish and uncover some more obejective praise. "There`s a song on Heavy Sleeper`s debut album, The Gifted Curse , called "Nothin` New." Like several other songs (the Greg Kihn Band`s "The Breakup Song," for instance), "Nothin` New" appears to be about the unhappy conclusion of a romantic relationship.. he often excellent and mostly well-executed The Gifted Curse is the work of musicians comfortable with creating no new thing under the sun. The album, self-released this past October, is sometimes deliberately referential and sometimes just unabashed about its influences. These influences include all of the important British rock bands of the `60s and some soul acts from the same era. So too, I hear Queen (especially on "Never Alone," which deserves your company), the Beach Boys, Big Star (especially on "Pure Extract," which won`t have you racing to sell your copy of Radio City ), Mott the Hoople, David Bowie, the Cars, T. Rex, the Pernice Brothers (possibly), and the Hang Ups ""-Citypages. "Eleven songs cooked up with ace local producer Bryan Hanna (The Orange Peels, The Waxwings), The Gifted Curse comes out swinging with a bona fide arena anthem in the form of "Home." One could be forgiven for expecting Heavy Sleeper to shift gears into more sedate terrain from there, but it turns out that `Home` is merely the first in a series of massive crescendo-laden guitar-snarling struts that blast forth from my speakers with a sense of urgency that`s got me by the throat (guitarist)Herder`s monumental lead work, on record and in the live setting, proves integral to elevating Galang`s tunes to the level of truly classic. The Gifted Curse`s batch of 11 time-tested melodically rich tunes stands as inviolable auditory proof that regardless of musical trends or indie-hipster fads, one thing never gets old-songs "-PulseTwinCities.com. From one listen, it`s clear that Heavy Sleeper is firmly established on a musical high road that most bands manage to get to only after years of slogging through the trenches. Opening with the rousing "Home," an incredibly infectious number that moves from beat to head-nodding beat with riffs and hooks galore, the pace quickens with the honky-tonk bounce of "I`m with You" and the spiky, pissed-off rave-up that is "Nothing New." And when the album`s fourth track ("Never Alone") hits, it`s apparent The Gifted Curse has settled into a mellow cruising altitude as it makes its way from a land of late-Sixties Beatles to somewhere over the rock`n`soul rainbow. The rest of the record brims with standouts such as "The Saddest Sound," a truly beautiful, heartrending number that could be a likely contender for an international radio anthem, and "Back to Me," an upbeat guitar-pop gem about weathering life`s changes. Extremely Highly Recommended!!
 Nothin` New - mp3
Never Alone - mp3
Easy, Easy - mp3
Pure Extract - mp3 |
