CD review: 2AM Orchestra's Impermanence - By N.L. Belardes

The melodic sound of “the Builder” off 2am Orchestra’s forthcoming cd, Impermanence provides the subtle grace and jazzy new alternative sounds of a Central Valley band on a mission to create the permanence and lasting lyricism of great music-bourne art. This is emotion-filled alternative pop music pouring right out of the agri-business heart of Central Valley… and that’s just song #1. Enter David J Kelley’s band out of Fresno, California, 2AM Orchestra, together since 2001 and following up on their self-titled cd that had its share of rave reviews.

The second track is a dark acoustic mellow love ballad that really sets the tone with its groaning lyrics singing, “Just say you’re not the one.” There’s a distant tambourine and a grooving bass line that captures the listener. The rhythmic guitar work of track three follows into a rich melody while focusing on David Kelley’s ballad-perfect voice and dark movie-like rainstorm quality… it builds in passion and longing as his voice trails while an orchestral movement builds into a haunting movement. Aptly titled, "Rainy Day"—it’s the perfect name for such self-reflective music. It’s the kind of tune I can loop in my Windows Media Player and write the dark fog-like happenings of a literary denouement. It just keeps the words flowing...

The roots of the Central valley are closely intertwined in the song titles and lyrics of such music. Though compared to Ben Folds Five, Radiohead, and though I can easily compare to the emotive energy of great Sting ballads, I turn such ideas inside-out and would rather expose the heart of the cyclical aspects of agricultural and sometimes overly conservative Central Valley lives we share, all captured in the sounds of 2AM Orchestra. Simply said, their songs reflect a much larger, shared human experience in song titles like "Untouched Earth", "The Old Church", and "The Cycle," not to mention the impermanence of humanity, love and the soil we stand on as captured in the CD title.

"Untouched Earth" is really a masterpiece in alternative pop music. It generates the questioning feelings of unexposed love and fuels pop music into its lyrics as if the very song itself is pouring into the storm drain of your heart. There is a journey in listening to such music that takes the template of a great alternative song and spins it in a perfect circle of sound.

There’s more to be found in the subtle texture of sounds nearly hidden on this cd. Listen carefully and you’ll find a tapestry of echoes, strange noises, sometimes almost a distant wind blowing through the tracks in various simple textures like the rustle of a paper, picked up and shuffled through keyboard textures, violin orchestration, all trailing around lyrics, in between riffs and around the void in broken moments of hidden bass lines. The strength of the final track, “The Cycle” takes the love story of life, that history repeats itself in a Vico-esque tale of spiraling historical forces in the very nature that we breathe... In the end, just after the final note you can't help but let out a sigh and start the cycle all over again...

2AM Orchestra will be at Jerry’s Pizza on July 8th. Who knows, maybe I will put on a disguise and hide in the darkness and give them a 'live' listen …

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Saturday, May 21, 2005. You can leave your response.