Blueburst isn’t your typical band of starry-eyed twenty-somethings making their debut. Instead, it’s the brainchild of an unlikely “new” artist: guitarist/vocalist Craig Douglas Miller and The Church’s Marty Willson-Piper.
The band, backed by drummers Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson) and Brian Platt (The Cads), bassist Ryan Kelly (Dayroom), and vocalist Riley Schatz, has created a nine song monster of sonic joy.
Miller and Willson-Piper deliver a lush, guitar-based sound, firmly rooted in the legacy of ’80s alternative and post-punk, but with a modern and timeless feel that transcends eras. In a musical landscape often dominated by overproduced slickness, Blueburst fearlessly embraces its retro influences, proudly wearing its oldwave inspirations on its sleeve. “Most of my friends, and a lot of younger people as well, are still listening to the albums we grew up with because there’s a rawness and honesty in that music,” says Miller. “That authenticity is what we’ve aspired to capture here.”
The focal point of the record is the 5:20 epic “Kick My Tires.” Sounding like Black Sheets of Rain-era Bob Mould, Miller laments his inner anguish with lines like My entire life’s on trial by the whimsy of you. The solo by Willson-Piper is worth the price of admission. But Miller’s lyrics are in top form here.
Other standout tracks on the record include “Vanish”, “Amplify Me” and a moving cover of the Rush classic, “Bravado.”
Significance releases tomorrow, October 20th, on Willson-Piper’s own label, In Deep Records.
