After their 2003 debut album "Katonah," Apollo Sunshine spent two years touring the United States, playing over 300 shows and perfecting their sound before recording this self-titled album.
Although "Apollo Sunshine" flows smoothly, the sounds are a complex mixture of overlapping guitars, bass lines and percussion.
As the album progresses, its refreshingly diverse sound makes it difficult to define a specific genre for the band. The vocals and melodies are generally upbeat and poppy and call for comparison to The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. Yet the way the band works the guitar pieces and percussion is original enough to still rock.
The album opens with the perfectly defining "Flip!" which manages to offer an up-tempo guitar and drum until singer Jesse Gallagher shouts the title, cueing a switch to a slow and melodic lyrical piece, and "flips" back and forth throughout the track.
Songs like "Today is the Day" and "Phony Marony" could get anyone out of a funk with their fun lyrics and vivacious melodies.
"I was feeling a little depressed, kind of insane, kind of not well dressed, I gotta get happier, I gotta get snappier," sings Gallagher on the track "Phony Marony." "Just do the phony marony, put me back in the zoney."
The title "The Hotter the Wetter the Better" is pulled from the lyrics to "Today is the Day." The song is a completely instrumental tune that mixes a strong bass line, up to three and four different guitar parts, and plenty of drums and percussion.
Although some tracks are a little too much to handle, such as the dragging country-blues guitar in "Phone Sex" and the overly compound sounds of "Magnolia," Apollo Sunshine is yet another great find from the Boston rock club scene.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
