Indie Music Album Reviews

Izy Kactus - Izy Kactus

7/29/2022

Izy Kactus

Izy Kactus
self-released; 2022

My Nguyen

Portland, OR’s Izy Kactus encompasses four songwriters who came together to produce a sound that is really out of this world. Covering a genre-bending sound, the band is influenced from everything across the board from spaghetti western, alt-rock, soul, Latin, folk music and much more on their self-titled debut Izy Kactus. From the very start, the band uses huge storylines to draw listeners in. A journey that includes a wanderer man, searching for a home (“A Dusty Road”) to finding a familiar place to settle down in (“Easier”) and finally to a nightmare that terrorizes a girl (“Dead Run”), there’s definitely a ton to appreciate here!

Izy Kactus opens up with “A Dusty Road,” which starts off to some somber acoustic guitars. Next, the synths and organ come in. Once the gritty vocals arrived, I was getting some spaghetti western vibes right away. The music was jaunty and moving. I could picture tumbleweeds and a dusty road on this track that reminded me of a Tarantino film. The guitar solo was stellar here.

Some guitars and a voiceover light up the sounds toward the start of “Easier.” With a meandering melody, this song definitely felt like a slow burn to my ears. Sounding very soft, I was reminded of a lullaby. I thought this track was very atmospheric. The soothing sounds felt welcoming to me.

To the clang of guitars, the band changes things up for a more exciting sound on “Dead Run.” As the vocals are shouted out with great gusto, I was getting some Latin vibes here. This seemed to be a great way for the band to close as they send us off with this hard-hitting finale.

The band experiments with a wide range of genres. Just on this EP, the band goes from spaghetti western to indie rock and beyond. My only critique is that this record was way too short. I really wished there was more as I enjoyed the three tracks that were on the album. With that being said, I look forward to seeing a full-length album from the band soon!