Pitstop: Art Decade

                                                            (photo by Hadley Brooks)

  

Back when I interviewed Young Man's Colin Caulfield about his latest album Beyond Was All Around Me, he mentioned the assistance of Boston based composer/arranger Ben Talmi. While I had kind of naturally assumed that was merely all there was to Talmi - a go-to arranger for artist's looking to have the string arrangements on their album really sparkle, I discovered however that Talmi had a project of his own: an orchestral pop rock band by the name of Art Decade.

It's no secret with my love of bands like Friend Roulette and Young Dreams that the way to my heart is with artful utilized strings and that's exactly what Art Decade does so well. Instead of your standard chamber pop bands that seem to rely on certain instruments as mere ornamental fodder, the strings of Art Decade are very much a part of its DNA, at least in terms of their recorded output. 

You see, Art Decade is composed of your standard rock foursome of instruments: Guitar, bass, drums,  a multi-instrumentalist every-man and sometimes that's exactly what you get like in the case of "Weapon" or "Steam Punk Sticker War". It's an interesting juxtaposition to say the least. That Art Decade can go from roaring dance-rock to delicate orchestral pop in the course of a single album. The transitions are less jarring than you'd expect due to Talmi and company blending the rock and orchestral elements so effortlessly, able to strip them back or color them in without it seemingly like anything is really missing. 

What sets Art Decade apart from all the other orchestral pop bands I have heretofore pledged my allegiance to is just how much they lean into a notable rock influence at times. It not all pristine artfully detailed musical moments; there's moments of high intensity grooves and true rock grit. Basically there's a little something for everyone as Art Decade hits every gradation of symphonic rock. 

So if Art Decade's orchestral rock pop sounds like your forte you can stream/buy/download their debut album Western Sunrise here.