Any album which comes bundling into earshot with such a blast of euphoria and energy, such passion and joy is going to grab your attention right from the word go. No tricks, no gimmicks, just getting right on with the job at hand. The job at hand, in this case, being to make sassy blends of rock, pop, jazz, and no shortage of Latin groove and the Caribbean cool, it’s a job that they are masters of.
Whilst promoting ideas of unity and understanding, as well as celebrating the diversity that we find in each other both as individuals and also culturally speaking, American Dreams is gorgeous collection of tumbling textures and ever-changing soundscapes. But its real selling point is that it always opts for the upbeat and energized path.
Dance Club is a lovely blend of dance floor grooves and rock weight, pop accessibility and global sounds, Home shows their ability to turn the ballad into something more dynamic and deft than the usual pop fare and These Are The Days is a power-pop floor filler par excellence.
As we found out when Transmission first wandered our way, Hemisphere is the sound of a band finding their influences and inspirations from across the widest possible spectrum and then using these to create music so varied that it is almost a tribute to contemporary music as a whole. And that is no small undertaking.
[…] how gloriously joyous, upbeat, and generally life-affirming their music was. Almost. It was American Dreams that first introduced me to a sound that I described variously as wide-ranging, eclectic, funky and […]