Solstice Coil
How do you feel about... something?
Friday, March 7, 2008 - 07:24
With everything that's been going on lately, I find myself way overdue with this review. Last Wednesday I attended FeelAbout's single release concert at the Tmuna Theater. I will intentionally ignore a debate about the fact that the band's name is suffering from a serious grammar deficiency, and get right to the point.
I think it's safe to say that FeelAbout is perfect in almost every way. They have a killer lead singer with a smashing voice and a body to match it, excellent players, each a master of his instrument, the music is very tight, the arrangements are solid, the performance is rocking and the energies are explosive. There's only one thing missing: songs.
When I listened to the band's songs online, I was very impressed, and actually changed my mind about them after seeing a part of their concert in the past. The music sounded excellent, the production was superb, and the songs were quite good, or at least, so I thought. However, it seems that when played live, the songs somehow magically disappear. Despite the great showmanship and the accuracy of the instruments, lead singer Roni Weinstock, who looks and sounds like a small clone (a Mini Me, if you will) of Orit Shahaf from the most successful rock band in Israel today, Ha'yehudim, loses all perspective when performing live. All the melodies are reduced to single prolonged notes, and she shouts each one of them at the top of her lungs, as if she's trying to impress us with her big voice with every single note. That accomplishes the opposite, providing peaks 100% of the time, which completely removes any dramatic effect. The band's dynamic live, also, isn't as good as it is on the recordings. Since all the melodies are flat one-liners, it's hard to distinguish between verse and chorus. It all feels like one generic hard rock riff repeating itself over and over again.
It seems obvious to me that when the band recorded their music, a producer was there to inform Weinstock that the notes she usually sings don't really make a song, but rather a vocal warm up, thus she should do something else, like… sing melodies. The single, Follow Me Down, sounds excellent in its recorded version. Weinstock performs perfectly, singing softly and emotionally – something that was complete absent in the live show. The arrangements are also much more interesting, but in this case, there are some things that just cannot be brought in when playing live, unless you bring in four additional guitarists.
FeelAbout's music isn't groundbreaking. In fact, it's quite generic. Interesting songwriting is their only way to obtaining any kind of success. The band somehow managed to receive an impressive award, best rock band of the year at the Los Angeles music awards for independent bands. While it is remarkable that a band from Israel accomplishes something like that, it makes me wonder if there really isn't anything more original in LA, deserving this award. It remains to be seen whether FeelAbout's album completely proves me wrong, by providing 12 excellent rock n' roll numbers with catchy melodies that were somehow nonexistent in the live show. But for now, it feels like the three songs that appear on their MySpace page are the only thing that's keeping them on the map.
I think it's safe to say that FeelAbout is perfect in almost every way. They have a killer lead singer with a smashing voice and a body to match it, excellent players, each a master of his instrument, the music is very tight, the arrangements are solid, the performance is rocking and the energies are explosive. There's only one thing missing: songs.
When I listened to the band's songs online, I was very impressed, and actually changed my mind about them after seeing a part of their concert in the past. The music sounded excellent, the production was superb, and the songs were quite good, or at least, so I thought. However, it seems that when played live, the songs somehow magically disappear. Despite the great showmanship and the accuracy of the instruments, lead singer Roni Weinstock, who looks and sounds like a small clone (a Mini Me, if you will) of Orit Shahaf from the most successful rock band in Israel today, Ha'yehudim, loses all perspective when performing live. All the melodies are reduced to single prolonged notes, and she shouts each one of them at the top of her lungs, as if she's trying to impress us with her big voice with every single note. That accomplishes the opposite, providing peaks 100% of the time, which completely removes any dramatic effect. The band's dynamic live, also, isn't as good as it is on the recordings. Since all the melodies are flat one-liners, it's hard to distinguish between verse and chorus. It all feels like one generic hard rock riff repeating itself over and over again.
It seems obvious to me that when the band recorded their music, a producer was there to inform Weinstock that the notes she usually sings don't really make a song, but rather a vocal warm up, thus she should do something else, like… sing melodies. The single, Follow Me Down, sounds excellent in its recorded version. Weinstock performs perfectly, singing softly and emotionally – something that was complete absent in the live show. The arrangements are also much more interesting, but in this case, there are some things that just cannot be brought in when playing live, unless you bring in four additional guitarists.
Best band in LA?
FeelAbout's music isn't groundbreaking. In fact, it's quite generic. Interesting songwriting is their only way to obtaining any kind of success. The band somehow managed to receive an impressive award, best rock band of the year at the Los Angeles music awards for independent bands. While it is remarkable that a band from Israel accomplishes something like that, it makes me wonder if there really isn't anything more original in LA, deserving this award. It remains to be seen whether FeelAbout's album completely proves me wrong, by providing 12 excellent rock n' roll numbers with catchy melodies that were somehow nonexistent in the live show. But for now, it feels like the three songs that appear on their MySpace page are the only thing that's keeping them on the map.
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