COWBOY POEMS FREE

One thing you can always rely on with Echolyn; excellent singing, wonderful harmonies, clever lyrics, and musicianship that is varied and extremely catchy. "Cowboy Poems Free" is no exception. Starting off with, 'Texas Dust' the band plays infectious wah wah guitar licks with some killer fast paced percussion. Upbeat and awesome beginning. I like all the Poem # tracks, they are very ambient and bridge into the following track on the album smoothly. Of course there are the obligatory Gentle Giant-like tracks, "Human Lottery" and the best track on the album, "Brittany". Both have that great harmonized singing and complex beats with Buzby's Kenny Minnear-like clavinet noodling keyboards. There are a few tracks in the mid-section that tend to sound like Canada's Bare Naked Ladies. Although the wah wah guitar attack on "American Vacation Tune" sticks out shiningly. Things pick up dramatically with, "67 Degrees" with a killer keyboard melody that is spooky and dark. The last song, "Too Late For Everything" has the foundation of their following masterpiece, "Mei". All in all, a superior album with all the "Echolyn" trademarks. A tad lesser in quality then their previous albums, but its a natural progression in their style. A solid 3.75 stars.