I Come alive - lunar love

I Come Alive

Lunar Love
self-released; 2013

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

I Come Alive is an indie rock band from Houston, Texas who recently released their debut album entitled Lunar Love. The band formed in 2012 and combines the efforts of Daryl Douglas (songwriter, singer, guitar, drum), Eric Foster (guitar, engineer), Patrick Alfarone (bass) and Marcus Daniels (brass). They recorded, mixed and mastered the record completely themselves. While the production may not be up to par with professionally recorded albums it sounds much better than a majority of the DIY type albums out there. 

The songs on this album are pretty straightforward – verse, chorus, verse type songs which rarely deviate from the band’s comfort zone. They have a number of solid hooks throughout the album but none that immediately jump out at you. It took me a couple of listens to find the songs that stuck out. The album is enjoyable throughout but overstays its welcome by a tad. Fifteen songs is almost a double album’s worth of material and had me testing my patience by the 12th song. With that being said a decent amount of songs are under two minutes, which kept my attention as well as my anticipation. 

The album starts with one of the highlights on the album called “Smile,” which implements clean guitars around a catchy vocal line. Douglas sings, “I won't leave you alone / Unless you can smile” with conviction as the horns swell in the background. Speaking of the horns, I thought they sounded great in the song but don't feel like they got they got the attention they deserved. They hung a bit low in the mix. “Fight Song” adheres to the name when the band sings “So put your dukes up” with authority while “Lunar Love Song” displays some very melodic as well as warm guitar tones.

“Nasty” breaks out the distortion as well as recognized hard rock guitar riffs that are two shades of Led Zeppelin. It is a solid rock song if somewhat predictable. The band  showcases their sentimental side with “Life Of Luxury”  and close with one of the best Franz Ferdinand-type rockers on the album called “I Come Alive.”

The songs on this album often feel like a combination of a number of melodies and riffs you have heard before. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but also left me feeling that I probably couldn't differentiate this band amongst the masses. The band still has some exploring to do if they want to find a sound that will stick but they have also displayed that have a good amount of chemistry, are technically proficient and can write a good tune. 

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