Communions
This album sounds like Garbage: you know, the alt-rock group from the ‘90s with Butch Vig on drums? “I think I’m paranoid”? Anything?
Awful puns, aside, Communions studio debut Blue is a thick, buttery cut of alternative rock that takes all the high notes from post-grunge, 2000s’ era pop rock and adds just enough personal flourishes to make it compelling.
Communions - Blue
Album opener, “Come on I’m waiting,” does just that, with a positively villainous drum beat, bubblegum bomb-drop guitar chords, and Martin Rehof’s high register vocals soaring above them all, in a way that takes me back to days of long hair, emotional adolescence, and summer’s eternal promise.
The influence of The Strokes, Garbage, and Vig-era Nirvana are positively palpable in Jacob van Deurs’ juicy guitar work and Frederik Lind Köppen’s propelling drums, and brother Mads Rehof’s deep, thick, melodic basslines.
The album is unimpeachable. Each song is tight, well played, well sung, and well produced.
The album is unimpeachable. Each song is tight, well played, well sung, and well produced. Crisp rhythmic turns and melodies all scream that you’re in the moment, while alt-rock tropes provide the, sense of perpetual motion. But the clever songwriting keeps each successive tune interesting and the whole ride smooth and sweet.
If I take any legitimate issue with this record, it’s that it plays the beats of similar alt-rock just a bit too well. Even though I love the sound of the mid-90s, the comfort can be overly safe at times. And, even more, the lyrics leave nothing to the imagination to compel or push forward. They’re straight as an arrow rock.
If you need that, though, you know exactly where to look.
Until I don’t hold anything back
8,627 out of 10,000 Rawckus Kung Fu Throwing Stars
