A band who list influences as diverse as The Bee Gees, The Velvet Underground, Woodie Guthrie, and Philip Glass (among many others) are an intriguing proposal. You know it could go one of either two ways: the band take the best parts of these artists, add their own touch, and throw everything together to create a sound that is unique to them; or that old adage about cooks and soup comes into play and you're left with a sonic train wreck where no-one survived. Aloha's fourth album, Some Echoes mercifully falls into the former category. Certain songs have recognisable styles and nods in the direction of the band's forebears: the gentle psychedelia of If I Lie Down, the strains of early/mid-period R.E.M in Brace Your Face, and the full on blast of the closing Mountain, but Aloha never sound like the 80's/New Wave copyists that have proliferated for the last couple of years. Firstly their songs are too intricately crafted (yet slightly skewed) to be lumped in with the angular guitars and scatter shot drumming preferred by whichever band sounds most like Wire this month. Secondly, the lyrics on Some Echoes manage to be both abstract and illuminating at the same time. There is a sense of isolation and loss running through this album, but one which is tempered with the hope of reaching out and making a connection, a hope which seems to be realised in the final song. The press release proclaims that the songs are “Lifetimes of sound distilled into 3-6 minute bursts... The music will say it better than we can.”, and it's hard to disagree.
Aloha will be touring Japan in October:
| Oct 3 2006 | 8:00P |
MARZ TOKYO-JAPAN
| Oct 4 2006 | 8:00P |
SHIBUYA O-NEST TOKYO-JAPAN
| Oct 6 2006 | 8:00P |
TIGHTROPE NAGOYA-JAPAN
| Oct 7 2006 | 8:00P |
BORO FESTA KYOTO-JAPAN
| Oct 8 2006 | 8:00P |
HELLUVA LOUNGE KOBE-JAPAN
| Oct 9 2006 | 8:00P |
UNAGIDANI SUN SUI OSAKA-JAPAN
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