Pomegranates - Everybody Come OutsideVerdict: Love (<)
The Pomegranates sophomore release is a joyous event. Upbeat songs with hand claps urging and encouraging us to find ourselves and love others, presumably outside of the house. In going through the mixing process with my own group, I've become more aware of how difficult it must be to get the complicated and heavily layered sounds that certain bands want to sound good together. This album is one heck of a great example of what amazing production, to me sounds like. However, I don't have a subscription to Tape Op., so as to whether or not it "officially" sounds good, who knows. As an everyday listener, I'd say it's pretty impressive.
There's a great deal of bright guitars and pulsating bass lines, accentuated by heartbeat drumming throughout the album. The notes from the piano give the album a homey feeling, and, coupled with the chorus-style vocals (overdubbing the vocals occurs more than an a couple times on the album, but it's never so overwhelming as to put one off), the album has a very warm feeling too it. The slow, soft songs are touching, and the faster songs had me bobbing to and fro. All these aspects come together and really make this album a great piece, but there are a few awkward parts to the album where, simply because of how some of the songs are composed, the sounds don't quite sound right. There are a few awkward transitions that are just too jarring, or one or two songs where I really felt like only the surface of the song was scratched, and they could have gotten a bunch more out of it (I assume this because they're certainly able of writing phenomenal songs).
That said, there are some very experimental things that are attempted, jarring transitions and whathaveyou, that absolutely do work, creating some truly spectacular indie rock pop songs. such as:
Pomegranates - Beachcomber
Pomegranates - Jerusalem Had a Bad Day
Pomegranates - Corriander
Tour dates:
** with Wye Oak
*** with Ted Leo
03.21.09 @ Valley of the Vapors in Hot Springs, Arkansas**
04.15.09 @ Brillobox in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania**
04.16.09 @ Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky**
04.17.09 @ The Hideout in Chicago, Illinois**
04.18.09 @ The Basement in Carleton, Minnesota**
04.19.09 @ 7th Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota**
04.20.09 @ Public Space One in Iowa City, Iowa**
04.21.09 @ The Waiting Room in Omaha, Nebraska**
04.22.09 @ The Hi-Dive in Denver, Colorado**(also w/ The Don'ts and Be Carefuls )
04.23.09 @ Kilby Court in Salt Lake City, Utah**
04.24.09 @ Neurolux in Boise, Idaho**
04.25.09 @ The Red Room in Kennewick, Washington**
04.27.09 @ Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon**
04.29.09 @ The Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco, California**
04.30.09 @ Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles, California**
05.01.09 @ Trunk Space in Phoenix, Arizona**
05.04.09 @ Opolis in Norman, Oklahoma**
05.06.09 @ Mohawk in Austin, Texas**
05.09.09 @ The Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, Georgia**
05.10.09 @ Local 506 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina**
05.11.09 @ The Black Cat in Washington DC, Washington DC**
05.13.09 @ Mercury Lounge in New York City, New York**
05.14.09 @ TT The Bears in Cambridge, Massachusetts**
05.15.09 @ Cafe Nine in New Haven, Connecticut**
05.16.09 @ Metro Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland**
06.15.09 @ The Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky***
Visit the band here:
http://www.myspace.com/pomegranatesart
http://everybodyoutside.blogspot.com
