The story of The Color Wheels [Myspace] started with a simple request. One day Pslam Sebastian asked her husband, Jon, to teacher her to play the drums. Jon agreed and without realizing it they formed a band at that very first lesson. Jon handles the singing, guitar and keyboards, while Pslam chips in with the back beat and some wonderful backing vocals.
Despite what you might think this is not another Mates of State story, where a young couple in love sings songs about … ummm, being a young couple in love. The Color Wheels instead write fun jangly pop tunes about awkward adolescence, pirate ships and candy dishes. Unlike twee bands, The Color Wheels, add a dash of sarcasm and uncertainty that make the songs much deeper than you would think. Their music is like twee’s older brother who is beginning to question love, trees, sunshine and wonder what all that actually means.
The opening track, “Rock My World”, sounds like a Rivers Cuomo home demo, which for anyone familar with Weezer, knows that is a fantastic thing. This comparasion runs throughout the album not only because of Jon’s vocals, which naturally sound like Rivers, but for the crunchy guitars, strong melodies, the occassional fun keyboard lines and sweet female backing vocals. Can anyone say “If you gave your love to me softly?”
The Color Wheels have found their niche and the type of songs they like writing together – mid tempo, lo-fi, hook heavy tracks, and they don’t deviate from the formula often. As such some songs can bleed together a little but with a running length of just over 25 minutes, the tracks never over stay their welcome. If you are a fan of Weezer or Ben Kweller’s material this is a gimmie.
The Color Wheels show a lot of promise for a band that was formed on a whim. It will be interesting to watch this young band grow. So keep your eyes and ears on them.
“Green Means Go” [mp3]
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Last 5 posts by Dan Berkman
- Dan Berkman Says Goodbye to Radio Exile - June 21st, 2011
- Sunny Day Real Estate (Terminal 5, NYC, 9/27/09) - October 5th, 2009
- The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin Review - August 3rd, 2009
- Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine Review - July 3rd, 2009
- Sorry Mr. Simon, They Finally Took Your Kodachrome Away... - June 24th, 2009
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Five Essential Bob Dylan Albums
The Lonely Island - "Jack Sparrow"
Video Hook-Up: The Donkeys - "Don't Know Who We Are"
Poughkeepsie represent!
Tom, it’s “P-town FTW”.
[...] have his hands full with his solo project and the project with the wifey (see: The Color Wheels [Our Review]), but Paper the Operator holds much promise with this taste of what’s to come from a full [...]