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Julius Airwave

The City the Forest

(Sickroom; US: 1 May 2007; UK: Unavailable)

The second album from Julius Airwave opens with the brief intro “In the City”, but most of this record is best suited for the open road. A song such as “Glory Glory” has an indie rock foundation, but allows enough space for it to occasionally veer into dance-rock during the chorus. It sounds like something that the National might have come up. The retro dance-rock motif is revisited for “Burning Clouds”. Meanwhile, far more tranquil and uplifting is “Nannerl”, which sounds like mildly like Coldplay without the beefy, arena-sized hook. It’s a very pretty and well-crafted song that ebbs and flows thanks to chief songwriter and singer Rick Colado. But the Julius Airwave has a spring in their step with the delightful Beatles-tinged pop oozing out of “Broken Bells” and the leaner “Fur”, a song the band definitely shines on. The band works through each song without any hassles or problems, even during the quirky but effective mid-tempo “Finale”. There’s also a fresh feeling about the record that makes every song catch your attention, even the keyboard-laced “Shipwreck”. Closing with the spoken word-cum-rock song “Every Little Bit Helps” concludes this impressive release.

Rating:

Originally from Cape Breton, MacNeil is currently writing for the Toronto Sun as well as other publications, including All Music Guide, Billboard.com, NME.com, Country Standard Time, Skope Magazine, Chart Magazine, Glide, Ft. Myers Magazine and Celtic Heritage. A graduate of the University of King's College, MacNeil currently resides in Toronto. He has interviewed hundreds of acts ranging from Metallica and AC/DC to Daniel Lanois and Smokey Robinson. MacNeil (modestly referred to as King J to friends), a diehard Philadelphia Flyers fan, has seen the Rolling Stones in a club setting, thereby knowing he will rest in peace at some point down the road. Oh, and he writes for PopMatters.com.


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