Light Wires

The Light Wires

The Light Wires

Sofaburn

Guitarist and songwriter Jeremy Pinnell would later go solo, but this is an album he made between 2001-2003 with a crack band: Andy Hittle on guitar and vocals, Rick McCarty on drums, and Mike Montgomery on bass and vocals. Mike also recorded and mixed all the songs, which Alan Douches mastered.

The music is adult rock turning to folk and alt-country, and about 15 years ago this album would’ve found a home on AAA radio; this is what that format sounded like before they embraced indie rock. And it's a well-deserved home for this album, which is taut, crackling, firm, gentle, never heavy-handed or melodramatic. It’s a bit like Springsteen, as well, but modest in scale, never overblown the way the Boss can be at times.

While it’s a little unclear if the songs' characters are addressing one woman or a series of relationships, the ache in Pinnell’s voice is genuine. He can’t help what’s he feeling, whether it’s love or heartache, even as he tries, and even as he’s decided by the end of each song that he is in love, he also isn’t quite sure he has it right. This makes the songs resonate with sadness. One can’t help but feel for him, and hope that he will get it right for good.

So anyone who is a fan of this kind of music, pick it up. You’ll relate to it and find that it really is a great album.

Andrea Weiss

Ampline 2

Ampline

Rosary

Sofaburn

Ampline’s second album finds the band as a trio, with Mike Montgomery on guitar, Rick McCarty on drums, and Kevin Schmidt on bass. The sound is slightly different, too: not indie rock turning to jazz, but straightforward, hard-charging, frantic indie rock.

It’s excellent, still instrumental, but with a few short tracks as sound and mood setters that are great changes of pace, a bit of a breather before racing off in a new direction.

What also has changed from their first album is words, not really sung, more like chanted. One example is “Two Hands.” “Two hands to hold you so tight so you won’t forget.” Another is, “Know that at this moment there is nothing special for you to do. There are no demands placed upon you, no expectations. There is no one to please, no one to satisfy.” These are reminiscent of the spoken words on Game Theory’s album Lolita Nation: “You can pick the game, if you can, when you know what it is you’re doing. But when you know what it is you’re doing, then you despise it.”

All in all, this album builds on the wonderfulness of their debut, The Choir, as it is just as wonderful, just as much fun to listen to, thrilling, and powerful. These guys can play.

Andrea Weiss

Ampline

Ampline

The Choir

Sofaburn

This is the first album from the Cincinnati based trio, who at the time of this release were a four piece, all instrumental band. Mike Montgomery, guitarist, would later sing, and the whole band would write lyrics. This album established them as an indie rock force.

Without being pretentious about it, these instrumentals are much like the best jazz, in that there is the structure of incredibly complex songs sounding simple. While there isn’t a lot of jamming or improvising, the interplay between instruments resembles jazz. This is indie rock, but with the same quiet power as jazz. While hard charging, it's also soothing, and in the end, like the best jazz, a delight to hear. The interplay between bassist Kevin Schmidt and drummer Rick McCarty, and the guitars is thrilling. So if you want a different and great type of indie rock, this is for you. It's enjoyable and serious fun, too.

Andrea Weiss

Benchmarks

Benchmarks

Our Undivided Attention

Sofaburn Records

Benchmarks is a Nashville three-piece that makes indie rock so melodic it turns power pop,   it's so catchy and powerful. With lead singer/songwriter Todd Farrell Jr.’s and Jack Whitis' clean, crisp production, and Mike Montgomery’s radio-ready mastering giving the sound just the right amount of grit and polish, it makes me wonder why this band isn’t huge, or at least well known. It is very easy to imagine them having hits.

The lyrics cover many difficult situations that invite confusion, maybe taking place over the course of a year, since the first song is titled “This Year” and the last “Next Year.” While they are never quite resolved, there is hope they will be and that things will be better as a result. But there’s also loneliness, boredom, listlessness, restlessness, and just being unsure of what to do. These songs aren’t dark or depressing, more like bursting with determination to see things through to whatever conclusion there will be, and just to take things as well as they can be taken. All in all, a really good album that flew underneath the radar. Don't let that continue. Pick it up.

Andrea Weiss

R. Ring

See Video

R. Ring (Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery) return with this clip. The music is the studio version found on their current album, Ignite The Rest, and is a great guitar workout: somewhat folk, somewhat rock, more rock than folk. Mike sings.

What’s cool about the clip is the special effect running all through it, which is images on top of images of the duo playing, all flitting in the background, flowing with the music, in and out of focus, providing an impressionistic counterpoint to the music. The clip is in black and white, too, which adds to the effect. It’s just dazzling, and not a run of the mill video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyYzw7Zw3Vo&list=PLIzbmoX1EuVKK4e4SzliZ-tg9ITXunNNk

Andrea Weiss

Alone At 3AM

Show The Blood

Sofaburn Records

The Cincinnati band’s current album, Show The Blood, evokes lives of quiet desperation, as so many are, all through the Midwest, and it’s rich territory indeed.

Singer/songwriter Max Fender’s lyrical grimness isn’t always grim. Toward the end it’s pretty uplifting. For example, the most sarcastic thing about “Constant Sarcasm” is that they're sincere and serious. And sympathetic. The young woman in “Story On Sixth” survives emotionally any way she can. “Upside,” about a father who dies emotionally after his son is killed in a car crash, is heartbreaking.

The music is gentle indie rock/ Americana. I hear Drive By Truckers, Jason Isbelland the 400 Unit, and a slightly rougher version of Philadelphia band Strand Of Oaks. Producer Mike Montgomery’s clean, crisp sound adds just the right amount of polish.

In the end, it's a good album to think to, for quiet times, late nights, and anytime something serious is required.

Andrea Weiss