Some Echoes:Aloha

Artist: Aloha

Date Released: April 11, 2006

Label: Polyvinyl

Produced By:

Tracklisting:
 * 1) Brace Your Face
 * 2) Big Morning
 * 3) Your Eyes
 * 4) Ice Storming
 * 5) Between the Walls
 * 6) Come Home
 * 7) Weekend
 * 8) Summer Lawn
 * 9) If I Lie Down
 * 10) Mountain

Review: As far as indie-pop (-rock) is concerned, the worst possible label you could get is ‘boring.’ There are thousands upon thousands of these bands, and the only thing your up-and-coming outfit should be concerned with is differentiating yourself from the group. Polyvinyl’s indie-pop meets free jazz quartet, Aloha, have always done a good job of finding a niche all their own. Their music, an endearing blend of post-fusion jazz-rock accentuated with a ubiquitous vibraphone, never seems to sit still with as many segues and instrumental sprawl as traditional songs. But for their fifth full length, ‘Some Echoes,’ the band over-focuses its effort and gives you ten songs rather than a cohesive record. No doubt building on their success with 2004’s excellent Here Comes Everyone, Tony Cavallario and company concentrate more on structure and song writing instead of letting the music flow as on previous records. There are certainly some highlights, including the first single Your Eyes, the 6-minute opener Brace Your Face and the urgent Mountain, but the rest of the songs are some what forgettable in context of the entire Aloha catalogue. The group seems to be straying away from one of their strongest characteristics, a heavily percussive sound; instead, singer Cavallario is taking center stage much more. Its not the he is a bad singer or lyricist, quite the opposite in fact, but on previous outings, his voice acted more as an instrument rather than a focal point. In turn their sound is becoming increasingly more redundant and predictable, a path that certainly leads to boredom. The real question here is will the band ever revert back to its more intriguing jazz oriented roots, or will they continue down this path to the Top 40 pop-rock singles chart? Mpardaiolo