SO UM. I did a review. What do you think?
Should I keep doing this in the future?

First time doing something like this so be nice.
YA jerks


TRANSCRIPT:

I don’t know “new” music. This occasionally hampers my ability to make relevant comparisons and references when describing a song or a band to someone, so please forgive me if I fail to throw out the appropriate “synth-pop” group when trying to nail down what Pacific Hotline sounds like. All I know is that when I hear a guy with an accent singing over a synthesizer, I’m a happy man.

BACKSTORY:
Pacific Hotline is a collaboration between Colson :usericoncolson: (aka like... 50 other musical aliases) and DarkGryph. :usericonralarare: Their EP, which I am reviewing today is called Odyssey and you should all go buy it now.
https://pacifichotline.bandcamp.com.....bum/odyssey-ep

It’s three freaking dollars. You can afford it.

TRACK 1: FLOOD
OOOOOOOH BOY! This thing friggin SCREAMS old-school new wave. It has the synths, it has the fake-on-purpose drums, a freaking steel drum sound, AND A GUY WITH AN ACCENT. I was so darn happy on my first listen through to hear that THIS was what I was going to be hearing that I nearly crashed my car.

The opening is fantastic. Minimal, vocally driven, and tunefully melodic. I should mention that DarkGryph is singing lead here. Things get going, layers get added, and we get a taste of the counterpoint-heavy production that seems to be the trademark of anything with Colson’s hand in it. The chorus could have used with a bit... less. Maybe a stronger melody? I’m not sure why but the place the verse leads us to isn’t the place I wanted to go. The only time we get a taste of the melodic theme of the chorus is at the very very end where it cuts to acapela. Hear that? I want more of THAT.

TRACK 2: SILVERADO
Your first thought might be, wow this sure sounds a lot like the last song, and you’d be right. BUT WAIT. This song has the B section, the... different stroke, the... antiphon, or whatever I’ve been craving. There’s a big change around the 2:30 mark. You get this delicate guitar part. It’s like a... sugar sculpture hanging over the pastry of Colson’s cheese danish of a voice. (That mean’s it’s creamy and delicious). I really wish there was more of this on the album. I’m huge into a song’s chord structure, and for nearly all of these songs, it doesn’t change. They change instrumentation, but not chords.

DarkGryph is singing lead for most of this song as well, but Colson takes over for a few lines in the middle. Dark really shows his singing ability off in this one. His lines are almost understated in his delivery, but I sort of like that. He does exactly what he should, and nothing more. It’s almost like MGMT’s vocals. Calm and precise.

TRACK 3: DRIVE
I wish THIS was the first track on the album. Colson takes the lead on this and it has “single” written all over it. They deliver some downright beautiful melodic turns in the verse. It’s still again. You get a chance to really hear the lyrics and phew, that bend in “on the radio” just makes me melt.

I’m noticing a pattern with this album. The verses are my favorite part. Don’t get me wrong, the choruses are alright but they seem more concerned with delivering a hook than anything. It feels like something someone wrote because they HAD to, not a musical outpouring of a strong feeling or idea. Here’s a chorus because songs have choruses. Insert hook A into slot B.

My other criticism is that when you sing “never-ever-ever”... I am GOING to sing “getting BAAAACK together!” in response, especially when the chord progression is very similar to a certain Taylor Swift song.

Maybe I’m just frustrated at the chorus because I like the verse SO much. Moving on.

TRACK 4: SANTA CRUZ
This track starts out and I’m all like “AW! YES! This is the ballad I’ve been waiting for!”
It starts out all slow, and different. It sounds like a totally different musical “mood” is gonna happen, but then then just pull the rug out from under that idea with the same four-on-the floor dance beat on the chorus. Once again I love the verse and I’m lukewarm on the hook.

The things I like about this track the most are the little frills in the back. There’s a wonderful use of triangle, some really well placed shimmering synths that sound like a tiny bell choir, and some EDM-esque mono synth use that I really like. If you have a set of good speakers it’s fun to try and pick apart the layers.

Colson is the lead on this track as well, and up until this point in the album he’s been singing rather low. I’ve heard his other stuff and that boy is usually WAILING into soprano territory. This track shows off a tiny bit of that range but it’s exceedingly well-used. The higher melodic parts show up just enough to cleanse the pallet and I like it a lot.



SUMMARY
It’s a new wave delight that is extremely easy to get into. It makes me jam out in my car. It makes me bounce in my chair, and heck it just makes me happy, as long as I don’t think about it too hard.

I like this album. Despite all the complaints and nit-picking you’ve heard so far, I like this disc. I’m trying to keep my perspective and treat this like what it is. It’s a introduction.
When their full length project comes out, I just hope they challenge me a little more as a listener. It’s totally a personal taste thing, but I need change and variety in music in order for me to fully enjoy it, and this didn’t have as much as I would have liked. It’s very likely that their producer smushed out a lot of the life of this EP, as the early, SoundCloud- released demo tracks sounded more ambitious.


PLEASE go buy it and support independent artists.
I plunked down $15 for the physical copy, and I regret nothing.
I’ll be proud to have it in my collection.

https://pacifichotline.bandcamp.com/releases
https://pacifichotline.bandcamp.com/releases
https://pacifichotline.bandcamp.com/releases

BUY BUY BUY