the luxury spirit - forgotten albatross

The Luxury Spirit

Forgotten Albatross
self-released; 2013

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Hailing from Asheville, NC, Luxury Spirit is an alternative band that would have fit right at home in the mid 90’s amongst bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Smashing Pumpkins but is also a breath of fresh air in 2013 .The band is a four-piece and made up  of Bob Burnette (vocals, guitar), George Sweet (bass, piano, cello), Matt Aycock  (percussion) and Tyler Larson (lead guitar). Forming in 2010 they got to work quickly releasing their first album Mackey Tapes in February 2011 and then following up with Forgotten Albatross in August of this year.

Forgotten Albatross is a solid album of 12 songs that displays good songwriting as well as chemistry between the band but also seems to play it safe for a lot of the album. They rarely venture out of their comfort zone and stick to their strengths.

The album opens with “Legionnaire,” which starts off spacious almost ethereal before getting heavy. The guitars on the verse are reverb-laced sunbeams while the bass work drives the melody. When the chorus comes the guitars get a heavy dose of distortion that sound suitable for a metal album. Burnette’s vocals blend in seamlessly with the atmospheric verse. His voice has an ample amount of reverb and doesn't ever feel like he’s trying too hard. “Angel Bones” ends with a shredding lead guitar while “Sad Believer” starts out with a funky riff that you could dance to. “God” is another song with some of the best drum work on the album. The thunderous toms repeat throughout adding an immediate visceral reaction to the song.

Ending with the title track “Forgotten Albatross’” the band draws upon some of their best work. The guitars coalesce nicely while you also have some of the best vocal melodies on the album. Towards the end of the song it really hits its triumphant stride with the piano taking the lead.

This is a solid album that has more songs that hit rather than miss. Their sound could arguably be a bit more distinct at times but if you were looking for an example of what good alternative music is, I would check out this album.

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