By Celica Cook, SBM Student Life Editor
It’s getting closer to Thanksgiving break (let’s give thanks for that), and hopefully, that means there is lots of family, food and rest coming your way this week. If you aren’t knee-deep in homework this break, maybe you have some extra time to tune into Pulse Radio and listen to some of the sick new tunes we have lined up. This week’s righteous find is Chromatics’ seventh album Closer to Grey. It has a synth-pop sound you won’t want to miss, and the “Sound of Silence” cover that sends shivers down your spine. Trust me, this is an album you should definitely try out.
The Chromatics have never been afraid to embody their own style within their sound. Each song is a story embedded into a symphony of electric pop sounds that almost feel eerie. Choosing to start out this album with a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” sets the mood of the entire album. It was written in 1960’s war-torn America—a time of social and political unrest when everything seemed to slowly be fading closer to grey (use of the album title intended). Even the album cover has a 1960’s experimental cinematic look to it, with a vintage-looking photo of a girl splashed with the international color of violence, red.
Before “The Sound of Silence” kicks in, all you hear is the slow ticking of a clock. You can envision the hands moving at a second-to-second pace over the face of some kind of clock emerging out of the dark. The song kicks on a few seconds after, ironically bringing an end to the haunting silence between the ticks with a well-known song about silence itself. It has a chilling effect that doesn’t go away with the end of the first song.
The entire album is haunting. The band has prided themselves since their first album in their ability to create moving images within the fold of their music, almost like a vintage movie, each song being a new piece of film for the roll. Eventually, all of the pieces fall into place, and the album plays out cinematically, leaving the listener feeling exactly what the writer wanted them to feel, the same way a movie tends to do.
If you are looking for some music that will give you something to think about, this is definitely a good album to listen to.
Catch these songs and more on 90.7 Pulse FM. Tune in on your radio device, or listen straight from our website.
Image retrieved from: https://www.stereogum.com