Berry – Blue Sky, Raging Sun (Music Review)
By Andrew Duncan • Jun 8th, 2010 • Category: Categories, Indie Rock, Music Genres, ReviewsBerry
Blue Sky, Raging Sun
Joyful Noise
Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Link: http://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/catalog/jnr49
An exuberant title that bolsters the imagination, Berry’s musical effects wanders about aimlessly without any real destination in mind. Just a collection of songs with no real focus or transition of the album as a whole, expect the unexpected because the band may start out ricocheting with math-rock qualities (“Out”) the best song on the album by far, but Blue Sky, Raging Sun turns itself upside down by the time they get to “Hard, Broken, Beautiful,” where they take notes from Karate with Neil Young eyes.
“Maiden Oregon” shows us that simplicity sometimes is the best medicine to a song, but a song like this melts too close to Mountain Goats, that is if the Mountain Goats made a rock opera about the history of exploration, a novel idea if only Berry’s vocals did not outweigh the music itself, a constant complaint throughout the release.
The downfall to this album is that these songs remain too incongruent to stick to your mind. The only thing about “Maiden Oregon” that attaches to you is the Procol Haram organs that lie within, and that feels more like oil to water than something cool and enlightening like some of their other songs.
I want to say that Blue Sky, Raging Sun grows on you, and it does a bit. But there is not enough of it that makes me want to continue coming back to, which becomes a problem to the magnetism of this release. I can pick apart each and every song and find things I want more of but too many distractions take away from the focus of the release.
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Andrew Duncan is a journalist who has migrated to the forces of academia. He has written for various publications including Chord, Heckler, Readyset...Aesthetic, and a vast array of alternative press contributions. When not roaming the streets of Indianapolis, he is either addicted to KXCI, making music, or striving to watch every film listed on IMDB.
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