Shana Falana “In the Light”
Recently, I’ve been downloading and listening to music like crazy from Band Camp. This is a review of a group of songs by the same band I got from Band Camp- usually it constitutes an EP. This is a song-by-song review and it is never to exceed six songs. At the end, I will tell you the “Recommended Downloading Level”, which means whether or not I think you should spend your time downloading these songs. It’s on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 meaning that you should stop reading my review and download these songs immediately and 1 meaning that if you even think about downloading these songs your computer will be infected with a horrific bad music virus. Enjoy.
<1> “Dizzy Chant” [4:56] – We’ve got a nice intro going here, with some guitar notes I’m assuming are on a loop. And here come the female vocals. We’re at the two and a half minute mark here, and something new is finally kicking in. It’s getting noisy up in here. Now we have male vocals thrown in the mix on a loop and, yes, I am starting to feel dizzy for some reason. What is going on? Children prone to seizures or the elderly possibly should not listen to this song (Or if you have a pacemaker) No, really, it should have come with a surgeon general’s warning or disclaimer of some kind. (Is the surgeon general going to get mad at me for not capitalizing his name? Why is he a surgeon anyway? Who does he perform surgery on? Me for not making his name proper?) And with some windchimes, the song ends.
<2> “Light the Fire” [5:12] - We’re starting this time with some bells and female vocals that are actually singing the title of the song. I can definitely hear how they’ve started becoming experimental. Now we’re going into various female vocal loops- around the two minute mark- that remind me less of Sleater-Kinney, as I initially said in my “Velvet Pop” review, and for some reason I hear a lot of Enya in this. This is what I imagine Enya sounding like if she switched from “new age” or whatever she is to shoegaze. I could be wrong, but I like this nonetheless and Enya is in no way my favorite or on any of my playlists ever.
<3> “Tragic” [4:43] – This song starts with the sad strings to set the mood. We have some female singing and it almost sounds like Feist. Her voice is getting really deep in this part about coming from the sky. I’m kind of scared, but it definitely sets the mood for the title. Right now all that I’m thinking is that I’d love to see this band live and have them close with this song. How many people would go home after hearing this and drive off a bridge? (Of course I’m kidding, as suicide is no laughing matter) It’s kind of burst out of that Feist phase and gone into Enya at the three minute mark. But now at three and a half minutes we have these vicious drums and almost mocking singing, which I think is on a loop. It reminds me of Sleigh Bells, whom I also happen to love. We stop the banging and end softly, which is a nice touch. I take back my earlier comment about this song leaving people sad; I think it will leave them feeling pumped up.
<4> “In the Light” [5:39] – And here is the pop singing I first fell in love with on “Velvet Pop” and listened to blossom on “Channel”. I wonder how they came up with the name for this song and the EP for that matter. (Haha, I kid, I kid—you’d get it if you were listening to this) I kind of hear The Cranberries a little bit too, which is not bad at all. I can’t tell when this is looping or not. Certain parts keep going over and over, which makes me think it’s looping, but at the same time, some bands just happen to sing that way without looping. It does become a bit repetitive, I will admit, but not at all in a bad way. Approaching the three and a half minute mark and we’re building again. I hear The Cranberries again as well (I think in the vocals) Now everything is kind of layering over itself and making this big mesh of a song from what we heard in the beginning. It’s like The Brady Bunch- when Plot A meets Plot B. (Oh sure, I capitalize Plot A and Plot B but not the surgeon general!) It kind of feels like a marching band in some way too, which must sound odd but to me it just does.
<5> “U R Everything” [4:29] – Starting off a little bit slower here, but we have those guitar notes again. And here come the vocals to accompany it all. Run-run-run-run, a doo run-run. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist. And now spell-check hates me) But if I’m everything, does that mean I’m all the bad stuff too, like cancer, war, famine, hate, Justin Bieber and all that? I don’t know if I’m ready to handle that sort of responsibility. I’m hearing Cranberries-esque vocals again. It also is probably no coincidence that when she sings “go-go-go” it’s in a way like The Go-Go’s.
<6> “Yeah Yeah” [2:57] – We’re starting off slow, but I think I can begin to hear the loops more now. I’m probably completely wrong. Here comes the guitar. Yeah! Wasn’t there a band once called The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s? I wonder whatever happened to them. I can’t say I ever remember listening to them though. Aww, that was just a bunch of “yeah yeah”’s over and over. I felt it building toward something greater and then it ended. Can I get a “Yeah Yeah: Part 2” and put them together to form one mega-song? PLEASE??
Well, someone had to set the bar and in however many Song-by-Song Reviews I have done I have yet to actually find something worthy of being 5 out of 5. But honestly, if you only ever download and listen to one thing that I suggest to you, I would make it this. Until something else comes along next month, and then I also include that in the package. But then it easily becomes “This is good… like, Shana Falana good”, so there you go.
Recommended Downloading Level: 5/5
The preceding music can be downloaded entirely for free (At least as of this writing) by clicking here:
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