Euphone - The Lakewood
(After Hours)
Between Jade Tree releases, Euphone has prepared The Lakewood, a maxi-EP/mini-LP of experimental sounds for the After Hours label. The music on The Lakewood is all over the map; a grab bag of songs pieced together for this side release.
The EP starts innocently enough with a fairly standard Euphone song, "The Lakewood Burning Bad Boy." Taking its queues from Rapsys' time in the Heroic Doses, fast-paced prog guitar is shred through like last year's tax statements. It's zany and cute, but a bit tiresome. Hi-octane guitar playing is also used in "Homodulations," this time using boogie-rock solo interludes that break up sexy vocal sections sung with a lazy, coked-out lisp.
However, these sexy vocals have nothing on "Tools of Love," which is a full-fledged R&B song. Taking queues not just from Isaac Hayes but also Barry White, Euphone take the time to sing one for all the lovers out there, although I'm not entirely sure why. It's done tongue-in-cheek, I'm sure, perhaps similar to a standardly quirky Emperor Penguin song, however coming off much less humorous.
The oddness of this release doesn't stop there though as the next track consists of early-jazz-influenced Jellyroll piano playing. Nimble fingers jump all over the keys, roll down them, and then jump around again. It could have ended up sounding like an exercise, but it doesn't; there seems to be some genuine appreciation from the band for this less "hip" style of jazz.
The jazz callouts don't end there though, as the EP also includes a cover of Coltrane's "Countdown." Although the song is only two and a half minutes long, the band does manage to recreate some of the same colour that Coltrane did. The other two tracks on the album, "Fanfare" and "Passing Notes," also are quite colorful, letting the bass take the lead. The songs follow a more deliberate, thoughtful pace, sounding like a walk home after dark through empty, brightly lit city streets.
Euphone's tried and true prog guitar has become more and more stale, so the fact that most of this EP is a diversion from that is quite welcome. The Lakewood is an entertaining album, bright and quirky, easy to enjoy and easy to listen to, showing Euphone to be consistently playful. It's a fun little album but nothing more than that.
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