Familiar Faces V Crystal Visions - Aubrey Straw V Sound Egg

 Folks I have to apologize for the long delay since my last post. It certainly wasn't my intention to let that Offspring review fester at the top of my blog feed for over a week, in fact I wanted to get a new review posted as soon as possible to move on from that one. But my day job got in the way, if you can believe that, and it is really difficult to write new reviews without your laptop. Anyway, after far too long of a delay, here we go.

Tonight I'm taking a look at the single "Familiar Faces V Crystal Visions" by the creative collaborative duo Aubrey Straw and Sound Egg. Yeah, I'm not too sure about those names either. I had to fact check like 6 times to make sure I didn't accidentally swap the song title and artist name. Getting into it, we have a rather fun and easily danceable bass groove, with plenty of percussion and synth sounds to go around. in fact, I have to say the bass groove is my favorite element of the track.

What distracts me from this fantastic instrumentation is when the vocals come in. In the spirit of being completely brutally honest, I have to say these vocals just aren't working for me. The piece comes together in a way that reminds me of if britpop-alt rock band Supergrass joined forces with the Talking Heads. There is something that is very David Byrne-reminiscent about the singer's tone that isn't quite landing. What definitely IS landing, however, is the lyricism behind the voice.

While I don't necessarily completely relate with the subject matter of the piece, as it refers to the idea of lizard people running the world, it is the poetic skill involved in the way the lyrics are written that come together rather brilliantly. Lines such as "See what breeds in familiar faces / generations of loathing and faceless put downs / while an elite lounge of reptilians / in summer pavilions / glare with cold humanoid eyes" paint an elaborate picture of the rich and powerful living behind a human-like facade when really they are something entirely different beneath the skin.

Ultimately I think this collaboration shows a lot of promise. They have two really strong components, arguably the hardest two components to get right in a musical composition. And with a little bit more spit and polish done to their vocal work, I think they would have something really special here. I look forward to seeing what these guys do next.

"Familiar Faces V Crystal Visions" - Aubrey Straw V Sound Egg

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