Stay And Play

Ok so I can't not tell you about this album. It's my favorite new album of the year, by a country mile. I'm gonna say final answer too, without even consulting whatever music I might find in the next month.

The band is People in Planes, and the album is Beyond the Horizon. Definitely a rock sound, although it's tough to compare them.

I'm just going to take some time to give you my analysis of this album. Find it somewhere and start downloading it in the meantime.

What I look for in the overall sound of an album is either a unified sound, or something that satisfies my entire palate. An example of the former would definitely be Autumn of the Seraphs by Pinback, which was my favorite album last year. It was a unified, almost weird sound. Beyond the Horizon is the latter. It goes all over the place, and every which way treats me nice.

There is a song that is piano driven rock, and another that has an amazing intro on strings. There's a typical sounding radio single, although I find that a weaker song on the album. There's bass-heavy songs, and songs with both awesome electric guitar riffs and acoustic guitar. The vocals and percussion are also really strong in my opinion.

It's hard for me to find a favorite song. I heard 'Last Man Standing' on the radio, and was mesmerized by the solo at 2:50. From there I found 'Vampire', 'Evil With You', 'Flesh and Blood', and 'Get On The Flaw'. Oh man. Every song is real different, but so good. Seriously one of the best albums I've ever heard.

Another thing I really like about good albums is layers. For face value, background noise, whatever - these guys are a solid rock band with trendy sounding songs. When you really listen, these guys get really good. The instrumentation and lyrics are rad.

So go get them.

'I don't want to get lost
I don't want to be found'