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Friday, July 11, 2008

CD Review :: Electrico - We Satellites

Tracklist :

1) Zero
2) Save Our Souls
3) Shadow
4) Faces
5) Soul Not Science
6) Hail To The Friends
7) The Slaves And The Digits
8) Travel On The Sun
9) We Satellites
10) Liberation
11) Aura

We Satellites is Electrico's 3rd album . It was released in S'pore islandwise 3 days ago & We Satellites's the band's 1st album as a quartet after the departure of former lead guitarist Daniel Sassoon who left the band in April this year .

I have been a longtime fan of the guys & girl & I have stuck with them since their reformation 5 years ago . I guess when the local press ran the story on Daniel's departure from Electrico , it kinda sent shockwaves in the local music scene & naturally after that happened , expectations were raised as to how the fate of the brand new quartet will be like now after they're 1 member down .

For my case , I was concerned as to how this will affect the band , musically especially since I love their 1st 2 records So Much More Inside & Hip City in which both albums contained quite a massive amount of guitar works unlike in the band's latest effort which sees no guitar work coming from Daniel who left just after recording for We Satellites started .

So the thing's , how does We Satellites stacked up musically against the band's past 2 records in which they have promised to soldier on as a quartet & sees the need not to look for a replacement ?

Before I go on any further , the 1st & last tracks of the album are instrumental pieces so subtract that from the tracklist equation , you get 9 new songs coming from the quartet .

The 1st track on We Satellites is the shortest track on the record . Titled Zero , it clocks in at 35 secs & it flows really well to track 2 titled Save Our Souls .

Save Our Souls is the lead single that has been lifted from the album . I was having a sense of deja vu when I 1st heard Save Our Souls as I have heard 4 instrumental demos coming from We Satellites long before the album was scheduled to be released so I guess I had the homefield advantage .

I must say that the quartet has done themselves a good deed for picking Save Our Souls as the 1st official single because the more I listen to it , the more angsty & bite it has . It doesn't sound like a Love In New Wave carbon copycat but instead it presents a different musical direction coming from Electrico .

Since they're 1 member down , they make up for the absence of extra guitar solo works with more angst & drive coming from the synths & drums . Not to mention Save Our Souls drawn into me the more times I listened to it in that it sounds better as each time I heard it so that's definitely a good thing !

Track 3's titled Shadow which stands as the longest track on the record , clocking in at a whopping 7:13 mins ! The band uploaded Shadow on their MySpace site a few days prior to the official release of We Satellites for everyone to get a feeling as to where their new musical direction stands at now .

For my case , I 1st heard Shadow way back last Oct when I went to attend 1 of their gigs which was the Sony Ericsson Traffic Jam Party & at that time , it was the 1st time that they have played a new song which turns out to be Shadow .

Initially I thought Shadow will be the album's lead in single but that failed to take off because no matter how many times the quartet tried their best to cut up the song & in a bid way to make a radio edit version of it , that kinda backfired . I was bummed when I was told Shadow will not be the lst single but after I heard the studio version of the song , now I understand why .

Shadow's extremely haunting & rocking at the same time . In the 1st 2-3 mins , it's extremely upbeat but then it subsequently slowed down & eventually it cranked up a notch . I like the sound consistency going on in Shadow & sure even though it's the longest track on the album , Shadow stands as 1 of my fave songs on the record .

But at least the band released Shadow as their 1st 'digital' / internet single so that will do .

Track 4's titled Faces . This's 1 of the only 2 slow no.s on the record . Faces kinda reminded me of Little Girl found on their Hip City album except it's a tune which just features frontman Dave being backed up musically by a piano that's hemmed by drummer William (who says a dummer can't tinkle the ivories) .

Faces didn't sit well with me when I 1st heard it . I don't know why but I never really like their long ballads to begin with but the song's a grower & I appreciate the earnest & sincerity of Faces .

Track 5's a tune called Soul Not Science . I absolutely love the melodies going on in this song as keyboardist Amanda kicked up the synth factor by a notch or 2 . The song's a bit let down by Dave's vocals which I feel he kinda overstretch his vocals a little bit in here but aside from that , nice no. I'm feeling .

Track 6's 1 of the most beautiful musically driven song on We Satellites . Titled Hail To The Friends , it's a sinful & addictive track from the start to the beginning & also the no. of instruments used in Hail To The Friends is quite impressive .

You have an alto & tenor saxaphone , a trumpet & a trombone being used in Hail To The Friends & it's an interesting bag mix of instruments to use as you usually associate these 4 instruments being used in a school band .

It's a challenge to bring in additional instruments to make a song sounds better but the ending results for Hail To The Friends's just magical . I hope this will be the 2nd single after they put out Save Our Souls as it's sheer indulgence at its max !

The next 3 tracks are the other 3 instrumental demos that I have heard for quite sometime before We Satellites was put out . I start with The Slaves And The Digits . I remembered when I 1st heard the instrumental demo of this no. , I was immediately drawn to the melody as the synth factor was kicking in quite nicely in this 1 & now that I had the chance to hear the demo with Dave coming aboard in adding his vocals , it adds a nice touch to the final product of The Slaves And The Digits .

Travel On The Sun is track 8 . This song placed a more heavy emphasis on the guitar work as unlike their other songs which're quite high on the synth factor , Travel On The Sun brings back to the good 'ol days when Electrico was still a 5 piece band . I guess the same thing's evident in the next track which's shares the same title as that of the new album .

It might sound like a bad thing but really it's not because sometimes it's good to retain some of the old sound/s that the band used to have & then taking it to make a new sound which sounds better than its original counterpart .

The last song on the album closes things off quite nicely with a somewhat subtle sombre closing . Track 10's titled Liberation & this's the 2nd slow no. on We Satellites with keyboardist Amanda having a hand in playing the piano on this no. .

Personally compared to Faces , I prefer Liberation a bit more than Faces . I'm not sure why that's the case . Maybe because Dave has more control of his vocals in Liberation & I somehow find Faces a tad whiny but with that said , I like both the music arrangements of both songs as they present a more stripped down piano driven vibe going on in both no.s .

The reason why I count Liberation as the last song on the album is because track 11's Aura is an instrumental piece featuring no vocals from Dave .

Electrico's brand new release has not left my stereo since I got hold of the album over the weekend . There're a few minor hiccups here & there in that I wasn't really feeling the 2 slow songs on the record but considering that this's their 1st album as a quartet , it's quite a solid effort & I'm so happy for them as despite what issues that they had gone through while putting out We Satellites , they still carried on & release this great offering which's possibly 1 of my fave albums to have surfaced for the year .

Do yourself a favor & get connected with 1 of the finest records to emerge in recent times in the form of We Satellites .