While reading the current issue of Under the Radar I saw an advertisement for Rogue Wave's new album Permalight and was almost instantaneously inspired to get the album and review it.
For those not familiar with them, Rogue Wave is a four person indie rock band that manages to combine the stripped down acoustic subtlety of folk music, the jangly guitar sound of garage rock, and the catchiness of a pop rock group. They even had their song "Lake Michigan" (from third album Asleep at Heaven's Gate) featured in a commercial for the Zune a couple years back. Permalight, the band's fourth full-length album, marks the bands return to the studio and features new bassist Cameron Jasper.
The album reminds me of their first album Out of the Shadows in the way that it mixes styles. It opens with "Solitary Gun" which after a barely audible whispered intro launches into a clap-happy, energetic pop rock styled song. What follows is "Good Morning (The Future)" which follows directly in the heels of the preceeding song with similar energy and a dance pop feel with techno-esque vocal effects. Next is "Sleepwalker" which slows the album down and gently coaxes the listen to the vocals with a barely there accompaniment. After things pick back up a little bit with "Stars and Stripes" which brings back the pop rockish feel. If you listen to lyrics, you'll find them to be rhyming nonsensical jargon. A song for pure enjoyment's sake, I guess. The title track returns to the dance pop feel but retains the lyrical complexity (or lack thereof) from the previous song coupled with several effects like futuristic beep chimes.
"Fear Itself" manages to ground the album after the ridiculous lyrics in the past two songs and like the second song on the album forces you to listen to the lyrics purely by stripping away all the fancy effects and instruments and reveals a vulnerability and emotional connection you haven't felt through the entire album as of yet. It's fitting that it's located at the exact middle of the album. The next song "Right with You" retains some of mood from its predecessor before becoming a beat more upbeat and picking up the tempo. Following is "We Will Make A Song Destroy" which manages to balance the silliness of the title, driving bassline, contrasting slow down and changes in tone, and effects. The emotional vulnerability returns in "I'll Never Leave You" which has the vocals accompanied by a quietly strumming acoustic guitar and claps to keep the beat. It manages to remain sparse but also have enough going on that you're not left pondering at strange silences. "Per Anger" manages to combine the enjoyable aspects of the first part of the album with techniques like allusion which the listener has come to expect from the second part. The rather somber mood disappears with the garage rock feel of "You Have Boarded" whose only compositional drawback is the repetitiveness of the title line. I mean it even modulates. The album ends with the exceptionally short track "All That Remains" which follows in the stripped down vibe established by several of the other song on this part of the album. The only accompaniment for much of the song is a solo acoustic guitar until the song briefly picks up with a far-away sounding acoustic guitar before ending abruptly.
The album follows this strange format of being split pretty much in half. The first half boasts popish, eventful though lyrically underwhelming content while the second pretty much tries to redeem itself by providing sparse tableaus which really give the vocals and lyrics their moments to shine. Overall an interesting listening experience that has a little something in it for everyone's taste whether you crave emotionally relevant folksy masterpieces or simple dancey pop-influenced ditties.
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