Frank Albanese (vocals/guitar) Jason Rho (bass/vocals) and Paul Jarosz (drums) are AVIVA. The band formed recently and recently released their eponymous album. Their music by all means isn’t reinventing the wheel or pushing boundaries but you know what. Sometimes a good rock record that sticks to the basics can be what the doctored ordered.
The band delivers well written songs that are catchy, rock and a blast to listen to. I was reminded of bands as far ranging as Vampire Weekend to The Shins and a host of bands from the 90’s. They start things off with “Kings and Queens” and immediately was enjoying myself. I was digging the groove and thought the vocalist had a good voice. Not too harsh, not too contrived and just an aesthetically pleasing tone. They continue to showcase a good sense of taste with “Cognizant” which is a fun jam and definitely felt like a summer fling. I miss summer. Although the song does get unexpectedly hard. They mellow things out with the slightly jazzy “Always True” while “L.P.J.” is a pretty funky tune. In fact this sounded like Talking Heads infused funk. I’ll take it. Things get mellow again but more atmospheric with “On My Mind”. They find some uplifting energy with the percussive heavy “Hey Mama”. Props to Jarosz on this tune for fueling the fire. They last two songs might be the best. The slightly Fleet Foxes infused “Ode to Youth” is killer as is the indie rock infused “Talk to Me” that has some southern rock charm. As an engineer with a lot of experience my one critique for the band is to do what they can it do to record with a professional engineer at some point. This isn’t bedroom pop or electronic or IDM. They play rock music and for the most part this is a genre that still greatly benefits from an engineer who can hear the difference between 3khz and 5khz. They write good tunes and while I think they did a very good job (I was impressed) with the self-recording there will be differences with an engineer who knows what he's doing. Overall, I thought this was a good rock album. As they state on their bandcamp. Play it loud. Enjoy!
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