Catalina Shortwave
Repeater
Coming from Southwest Connecticut,
Catalina Shortwave are a different kind up and coming band. While most bands
prefer to crank it up, Catalina Shortwave decides to keep things as simple as
possible with their lo-fi approach. Still, the band has a unique sound as they
blend country, rock, folk, R&B and punk all together. Their debut album, Repeater, is an impressive first
release.
The
album opens with the eclectic rocker “Don’t Never Take Your Love Away.” This rocker
is led by a Stones-esque guitar riff, along with the soulful vocals of Dave
Rizzo. The chorus has a southern rock twang but the song still has a hard rock
edge at the same time. This is followed by the strange punk R&B number
“Anne Boleyn.” It sounds like something that you’d see Phil Spector have one of
his girl groups roll out, except it’s being done by a lo-fi band. The album
continues with the psychedelic “Running on Vapor” and the distorted minimalism
of “You Rained Hell On Me.”
There are 15 songs on the album, all
ranging from a wide variety of genres. Listening to this album, Catalina
Shortwave can get psychedelic. With each psychedelic track, the band takes a
different approach. “Jennifer’s Paradise” is a distorted psychedelic hard
rocker with some impressive fast-paced drumming from John Garvey while the
eight minute “She Set Me Free” allows the band to jam freely. The band are also
pretty good song writers. Listen to the lyrics on the biographic “Wintersong”
and the poetic folk rocker “Set My Horses Free.” Lastly, the band has a sense
of humor. You can tell just by the titles: there’s the short but sweet ditty
“There Ain’t Much Goin’ On But The Bottle” and the strictly country closer “It
Ain’t Cool to Say You’re From Seattle Anymore.”
Listen to the album streaming on their ReverbNation page by clicking here.
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