Well, even before we’re out of the first month of the year we have a contender for album of the year for 2012. Graffitti6’s Colours a force in pop rock music. It’s an absolute gem from start to finish. This is a no-skip inspirational and thoroughly enjoyable album. Fans of danceable, singable rock music will eat this alive. It should get some serious airplay. We’d be shocked if Graffitti6 is not a household name by the summer.
The songs on the album carry a variety of styles from upbeat to chill, but they are all really well executed. The production quality of the album is fantastic. There are no missed notes or awkward transitions. From start to finish this is a winner.
Listeners begin dancing with “Stone in My Heart” and barely stop until the softer, introspective “Over You” at the end of the album. In the middle, listeners experience a number of well balanced jams worthy of driving, working, or partying. This is exactly what pop rock ought to sound like.
The second track, “Annie You Save Me” is an exciting jam that reflects the golden age of Motown, including some sweet harmonies over a danceable groove beat. This is a party anthem. “Oh Annie you save me from the world.” Seriously… such a relatable lyric and concept. It’s a winning track.
When an album qualifies for record of the year, it’s difficult to just hit the high points. We will say we found “Stare into the Sun,” “This Man,” “Free,” and “Stop Mary” are all quite enjoyable tracks, but for the sake of brevity we’ll gloss over them. They all fit well into the overall ethos of the album. Don’t skip them when you listen!
The track “Never Look Back” is an amazing song. Philosophically speaking, it is representative of an attitude of abandon. Move forward. Sonically, it expresses that mentality with an adventuresome tone that reflects the enthusiasm of 1960s classic rock music. The guitars growl through with anger, the drums are snappy, and the harmonies, as the rest of the album, are on point. This song captures the kind of love-with-reckless abandon that is exciting… and worth shouting about. It’s so good.
Another mind blowingly awesome song on this album is “Lay Me Down.” It also has the tone of a sort of pop classic rock flavor that might find a home in the 1970s. That said, it’s the modern recording and production quality that makes it, in many ways, better than what the pioneers could do. The song, unsurprisingly, is about an intimate moment between two lovers. Graffitti6 put together a transcendent sound that… without a better way to put it… accents that amazing feeling of afterglow between lovers. This is an anthemic love song at its very best. “I’ll take you home.”
With two immediate contenders for song of the year and an overall fantastic album, this is a must listen. Put it this way, the songs that we skipped over for this album would have been “best of” for a lot of other rock acts we’ve heard. These guys are in a class their own. We featured them in a YTG a while back, but they’ve shown with Colours that they are ready for the biggest of stages. Rock on Graffitti6.
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