Spiral 25 debuted with their great EP here. They can be really good doing live shows. When you listen to their EP, there would be not much difference to seeing them live as they manage to stamp their live and jamming sound to their music, whatever track they play. :-)
Spiral 25 EP opens with “Let The Light Shine On”. It was quite an explosive track with the guitar keeps on strumming in the background. When Russell comes in with his vocals, this track then starts to have a very shoegaze appeal. It takes a while for the guitar to warm up though. You can hear it when the music takes a different dive into a new rhythm. And once it gets there, it would be hard for you to get out of that comfort zone as the guitar is too tasty to let go. It really has a jamming sound to it, from start to end. It worths the wait for the guitar to reach its peak and eventually going sort of wild. Spiral 25 are showing some potential here. :-)
“Signals” has a slower and softer start with the plucking guitar that never seems to get worn off. Once it picks up and the tempo notches a few gears up, you can hear Russell singing in an echoic surrounding, as if they were in a small and closed room. Further and slowly into this track, Spiral 25 can be heard going wild with the music, until it’s hard to make out what they’re singing. The only thing that catches my attention is the music though. Everytime after a series of pacy music and vocals, it is able to come down with such delicate touch. Only in the end, the music appears to be on an exploring mode. ;-) Not a bad track by Spiral 25. ;-)
“Shadows In Line” almost has a similar intro as Signals. Its distant guitar which eventually appears to be on a rock and roll mode is hardly expected. Moreover, it’s really good! And most of the time, i hardly pay attention to Russell. My attention is automatically diverted to the guitar of this track. However, patience is much needed when listening to this track. The real magic of this track only comes at 1:46 minute mark. The build-up is just an appetizer to bring us to the next level to enjoy the main course. Spiral 25 are getting me excited! :-D
“Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past)” has a harmonica opening. It is soon joined by the restless guitar that never seems to have the word “Tired” in its dictionary. Surprisingly, the more i listen to this track, the more country-rock element is coming together. Spiral 25 might just have combined psychedelic rock and shoegaze with country-rock. The core instruments here are the harmonica and the guitar. Together with Russell’s vocals that are just nice for Spiral 25’s music genre, Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past) is a big closer for their EP. ;-)
Rating: Spiral 25 are so much fun to listen to if you’re a big fan of shoegaze, psychedelic and lo-fi music genres. They are really raw on their debut EP. As raw as it sounds, it doesn’t have much flaw on this EP. Everything seems to work out just fine within the genres of theirs. With the lo-fi sound that they have, i would say they need not another chance to re-discover their music direction. They have already found their trademark sound. It’s just a matter of time before they have a large fanbase, which can be an easy process with the help of the Internet. I’m definitely a fan of Spiral 25 now and would love to hear more from them in the future. Great stuff! Spiral 25 scores 7.5 out of 10. ;-)
Stand-Out Tracks (My Picks): Let The Light Shine On, Signals, Shadows In Line and Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past).
Fan of psychedelic rock and shoegaze? Come grab Spiral 25 EP by Spiral 25 to whet your ever growing appetite right now.
Darren Tan
www.indiesurf.com, May 15th 2009
Labels: E.P, Indiesurf.com, news, Review
