xmaslites - island in the sky

Xmaslites

Island in the Sky
self-released; 2013

3.5 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Xmaslites is the bedroom project of Dominic Cicere who recently released his single "Island in the Sky" along with "Ready for the Girl" When I first listened to the single I was pulled in a number of directions. I initially thought it was a bit to mainstream of a sound but after a couple listens I started to warm up to it. First off, the production sounds great which always a plus in my book. The drums were well recorded, the vocals were clear and there was a good amount of separation in the song. The vocals are interesting, as they have a 80's journey-esque exuberance that if wasn't there I would have probably been a lot more critical of the song. "Island in the Sky" does suffer a bit of an identity complex. It lies somewhere between finding a mainstream audience or hipsters. It may very well succeed at finding fans in both circles or ostracizing itself from both groups.

The second song on the split threw me for a loop. The music sounding as if muse and radiohead took a stab at industrial. As with the first song "Ready for the Girl" has a mainstream feel to it but seems to be trying to appeal to a hipper audience. It's not a bad song, in fact there is not much wrong with it. It's well crafted, has great production and sounds really big. My main concern is that this band may have a hard time finding a niche audience. It's a good start but a little bit of refinement as to what direction he ultimately want to go in will probably be beneficial in the long run. 

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