Saturday, August 18, 2012

White

What: CD Review
Artist: WHITE 
Title: The Size of Our Souls
When: June 2007

Start to finish, The Size of Our Souls has it all — insane hooks, harmonies, killer guitars, big fat bass, kick-ass keys and synths, and a classic heavy rock groove that makes every song worthy of throwing the horns. White is not doing anything groundbreaking, but the fine musicianship, aggression and diversity of the material make it unnecessary to apologize for lack of originality. While arena-rock anthems are White’s sweet spot, they don't stop there; they intersperse surprising elements of spacey synth and echoing, layered vocals. Without the keys, synths and effects the White sound would be way less interesting (like Lake & Palmer without the Emerson). The searing mini-Moog action at the tail end of track 7, “The River Song,” is worthy of the Replay button. At times, like on “Judy," this synth & effect work adds a certain prog finesse, at other times (like on “The Story”) it evokes a crazy funkified Prince-like vibe, at still others it's just so Led Zep you're just waiting for it to dissolve into "Whole Lotta Love."

Attention to the cohesion of an "album," something you rarely hear anymore, works really well here. "The Story" melts seamlessly into "Do You Feel In Love," and "The River Song" similarly bleeds into “On the Crutch” with it’s ridiculously good guitars and a melodic hook that sounds like “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” if it were played by Skid Row. The coup is the last track, which also happens to be the title track, which amazingly clocks in at over twenty-one minutes.

White is a Boston-based five-piece powerhouse of rock fronted by Jonny Rebel, aka Jonny P (ex-Asect). A drummer and self-taught singer, Jonny's soaring vocal magic actually got him as far as LA in the first season of the INXS rock star show a few years ago. On organ and mini-Moog is Eddie King, aka Etto (ex-Psychotic Larry). Jim Foster (Nullset) fills guitar and producer duties. Billy Egan on bass and Delany on drums provide the gut-bashing low end.

What a great CD. It' a contemporary approach that breathes new life into big, arena rock. If the universe aligns for White, a million teenagers will forget the meaning of the word 'emo.' (Lexi Kahn)


 Uploaded to Youtube by on Mar 8, 2007
"Nobody Loves You" off the album "The Size of Our Souls" by WHITE (2007). 
Directed by Ian Barrett.

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