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Non-Prog CD Reviews

A Love Electric

Permanent Immigrant

Review by Gary Hill

This is an interesting set. It has a lot of psychedelia and old-school garage rock built into it. Yet, it's also modern and alternative rock based. There is a moment or two where it feels a bit monolithic, but overall it manages to change things up enough to keep it fresh.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2020  Volume 5. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

Track by Track Review
Common Animal
I love the riff that opens this. The cut has a great modern take on old school sounds. It twists to a trippy kind of mellower movement for the verse. This has a lot in common with the psychedelic garage rock type sounds of the 1960s. Yet it's decidedly contemporary, too. This earns a bit of a parental advisory.
This is The Time
I love the bass line that runs along the backdrop of this tune. A lot of the vocals on this are spoken. There is an almost artsy vibe to this. Yet, it still has a healthy helping of psychedelia in the mix. This is strange, but cool.
Losing Touch
With some hints of singer songwriter sounds, this is a slowly moving, vaguely bluesy piece of alternative rock. It's classy stuff. I love the overlayers as the arrangement gets lusher later.
Witch
There is a noisy sort of introduction to this. That gives way to a killer riff-driven jam that has plenty of that psychedelic garage rock sound to it. The tune is a killer rocker that works well. It does a good job of mixing modern and old-school textures. It might be my favorite of the set.
Dance Like Americans
Bluesy rock brings a lot of the sound of this tune. The number is understated and seems a bit freeform. It's another solid bit of modern rock informed by older sounds.
Permanent Immigrant
I dig the gritty edge to this rocker. It's energetic and catchy. It's actually one of the strongest tunes here, but it's all starting to feel just a little samey by this point.
Place in the Game
The mellowest modes of the set bring this in with a slow, slightly trippy motif that serves as the backdrop for gentle vocals. This really does provide some much needed variety. I dig the guitar fills, the classy gradually building arrangement and just about everything about this piece. The moody tone is great, too. 
Move
The riff on this number has an almost Led Zeppelin kind of vibe. The cut has a healthy helping of reggae in the mix, though. They take this through some cool shifts and changes. It gets rather artsy at times, but never loses the rocking groove. That said, it even works toward prog rock zones at times.
Tourist
The rhythm section brings the closer into being. The cut has some hints of reggae in the mix. The vocals lean toward spoken. This is another creative number has some echoey artsy vibes on display. There are some spoken female vocals in Spanish as the cut moves toward tasteful weirdness.
 
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