Book-Burners
Album Title: People’s Songs
Record Label: Latest Flame Records
Review by Sal Serio
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The Book-Burners - People’s Songs
A great deal of my readers will be too young to remember, but there was a time in the late 1960’s when pop music turned a corner, became more socially conscious, and lyrics assumed a much more serious role. The “yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy” sentiment was replaced with “there’s something going on but you don’t know what it is Mister Jones”, yet the music, in many ways, remained in the AM radio friendly pop format.
When I listen to The Book-Burners, I feel this 1967 vibe updated for the post-grunge generation. Sorta mid-tempo-ish pop-punk short songs occasionally see-sawed with a clean guitar sound in one channel and more fuzzy tone in the other. Impassioned vocals that can be soft and soothing, but then leap in to tortuous screams. Inventive, melodic, bass lines pull the guitar parts in, and lock the compositions in to synch. Sometimes female backing vocals add a pinch more “indie college rock” flavor to the proceedings. To this extent, I feel a loose association to the Chicago 90’s band Eleventh Dream Day, but I’m not super comfortable going there. Ultimately, this is to The Book-Burners credit. The lack of apt comparison is a powerful statement to their intense originality.
The Book-Burners Online
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