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Escape
Velocity: Chaos Theory
There is nothing heavy about this trio from Lynchburg, Virginia. They would prefer to string together beautiful harmonies and jangle their guitars than holler and shout between screaming electric guitar solos. Even their lyrics are fairly simple and sweet and deal mostly with love. The self-released album is pretty clean for the most part. However, in the first track, Dont Push Me Away, the beat changes completely within the last few seconds of the song after it already felt like it had achieved a nice ending. This happens again in Fall In Love Again, in which the song seems to end after two minutes but then starts up again and continues on for another 45 seconds. And yet again, in Tired of Life (Relates US), the band feels compelled to add an additional 45 seconds to what seemed like a perfectly fine ending. These extra endings are completely unnecessary and only assist in making the album feel choppy. Lead singer, Michael Chagnon contributes a very interesting set of pipes to the group. His voice is as melodic as Rufus Wainwright but a little more rough with a hint of a young Lionel Ritchie (really, I mean this in a good way) and a tinge of punk rock style. At first I didnt like his voice, but he harmonizes very well and it is complimentary to the beautifully played guitars. For example, Fall in Love Again would be perfect for, say, a boat ride through Venice, and I couldnt imagine another set of vocals, aside from truly Italian ones, fitting better with the music. The music is top notch throughout the entire album, but the album still feels chopped up with the band not knowing quite how and when to end their songs. I suppose it could be sad to say that one of the better songs on the album is a cover of Sleeping in A Beetle Bug by Of Montreal but honestly, I think I like their version better than the original. Aside from substituting an electric guitar for keyboards, they dont change much; but this slightly harder edge along with Chagnons vocals makes the song soar. Well done. If they can just learn to let their songs go without multiple endings, they may be on to something very good.
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