Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CD. Review Vestals ’ eclectic debut album lacks focus but shows promise ■THE VESTALS -The Vestals ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK A little bit pop, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, the Vestals’ self-titled debut melds dark, distorted melodies with Fab Four esque harmonies to pro duce an innovative brand of mpdern rock. The band’s tunes call to mind the best of classic pop, yet seethe with sounds more sinister that crawl through the layered guitar lines and ^minor chords. P Hailing from Minnesota, the quartet includes brothers Ben and Jeremy Gordon, Mark Weigal and Mario Garza. The Gordons’ well-honed songwriting skills took them to the fi nal round of the 2000 John Lennon Song Writing Contest, a pres tigious competition hon oring blossoming song writers. They’ve now applied their pop sensibilities to more artsy material, generating a collection of tunes that references The Beatles alongside “Bends’”-era Radiohead. The CD’s lead off track leans more towards the obscure than the classic and sunny — “Seven Hours” lacks a catchy hook but swells with mu sical layers and effects. In contrast, the up beat “Too Late to Say Goodbye” speaks with lighthearted humor about a relationship gone too far: “Chances are I wouldn’t feel so bad / If I hadn’t started work ing for her dad / And now he calls me champ ...” The frivolity of such lines contrasts the moody ambiance of oth er tracks. While both types of tunes work by them selves, the CD seems, at times, too varied in its inclusion of different styles. The moody tracks that open the album lead a shift into more rollick ing songs such as “Another Way to Kill Me.” And then they fur ther morph into confes sional acoustic anthems, including “Someday,” that highlight the vocals rather than the effects laden guitar line. Although such diver sity evidences a band with varied talents, the resulting record is al most too eclectic sound ing. The collection comes across not as a co hesive album but as an alt-rock sampler of sorts. The Vestals’ debut showcases an up-and coming band with plen ty of progressive pop po tential. All the band needs now is a more pin pointed sense of musical direction. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm .sc.edu PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK The Vestals, from Minnesota, displays a range of talent in their self-titled debut album. Top 10 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 waste of time, but they’re impor tant business to us serious gamers. Hopefully current and future Gamecocks alike will find the games on this list to be helpful in their endless pursuit of fun in the midst of books, exams and pa pers. They definitely did the job for me. 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