Album Review :
Baretta May - Signals Vol. 1
By Eric Pettersson in Reviews | Comments closed
Artist: Baretta May
Album: Signals Vol. 1
Label: None
Release Date: January 1, 2011
Reviewer: Eric Pettersson
Tracklisting
- In the Walls
- Still Beautiful
- Blues
- Flying around in My Head
- Red or Green
- Off the Rock
When you see that most songs are at least six minutes long, you know you’re in for one epic release. The experimental rock band Baretta May’s debut Signals Vol. 1 starts with the slow and spacey “In the Walls,” which will have you floating before breaking into the more rocking track “Still Beautiful,” which includes a little bit of screams at the end. When they rock, they sound like Circa Survive or Sullivan, with vocals just as high. When they groove, it’s much more Pink Floyd and Far Less (A Toast to Bad Taste era). In a single track, the feel will go from relaxing to terrifying to mind-blowing and back. More post-hardcore elements come and go, as do the almost jazzy clean guitars of an experimental jam band. The lyrics are very poetic in a way that meshes with the music to create a consistently moving experience. They are sung in such a way that you can choose to pay attention to the words and connect with the songs on that level (and the lyrics are quite good when you do pay attention), or you can let them blend with the music as another instrument and that works just as well too.
Overall: Baretta May’s experimental blend of post-hardcore, indie rock, and jam band sounds is highly impressive and well worth checking out for anyone bored with run-of-the-mill rock bands and wanting something fresh and different.