The introduction of The Listening To This Week has divided opinion. Some love it. others think it takes the focus away from the Album Reviews (primarily what we still do), but I wanted us to evolve and find an easy way to cover single songs without taking up lots of time that should be devoted to Album Reviews. There is no doubt that it has taken IDHAS into a bigger area and engaged many new followers.
I mention this because without LTTW, I would never have discovered Charming Arson and part of its remit was to discover new artists that were not in our usual channels. The Boston quartet could be classed as Indie Rock, but that would be a bit lazy, because the band are all over the place in a wonderful way.
Dave Cameron and Dave Gould were part of the Alt Prog Rock Trio Zoot in the late 90s and there are big glimpses of that here, although it is rocked and guitar popped up. Alice Has A Metonome threatens Prog but transforms into a complete rock out with a blistering Guitar solo.
But compare that to Queen Of The Fading Star which is incredibly delicate, part Radiohead, part Syd Barrett and totally splendid. Hayley, You're My Comet is great Psych Pop, yet also very Brit Pop and these mixtures are really what makes the band.
Crazy Jane Gets God is very Toytown with big nods to Pop Rock and 60s Psych. It reminds me a lot of my 90s faves, Octopus. No One Gets Nowhere is where Charming Arson lays into Pop Rock with a Noo Yawk chit chat inserted with a Jazz groove.
How To Fight It is a really strange choice as an opener and the loosest that the band get, it is almost a Jam, almost Alt Metal for a while. Across there the six songs, there is a lot to take in due to the rapid changes, but it is definitely worth it. I've had this for a while and been dying to tell you about it. Something a bit different, but something very fulfilling.
You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about the band here.
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