Niku – Float Away
Genre: Post-Punk, Pop Rock, Garage Rock
Canadian band Niku sound like they pick the shortest route to a great rock tune on the single Float Away.
Isn’t this what all great folk-punk artists do, really? While others are busy finding just the right guitar pedal, an ideal amp, and the perfect, fancy chords, they know that great energy and powerful melodies are enough to make believers out of an audience.
It’s a ramshackle sort of sound that feels closest to spoken word pieces in the sense that the singer is addressing the audience directly. There’s no pretension and no attempt at pretending that there’s any fourth wall in danger of falling.
Niku’s Float Away sounds like a folk-punk tune meant to connect immediately with the group’s listeners. In their attempt to do this, melodies of the most memorable variety are picked up and thrown square at the audience. Besides, the Calgary band has another advantage over many of their contemporaries. Their singer can actually sing. Nice choice!
The Silencio – Under Lock & Key
Genre: Hard Rock, Grunge, Alternative Rock
The Silencio write songs about small events that always seem ripe to turn into great tragedies.
Some directors make movies about colossal themes, yet the stories that they tell feel natural and approachable. Others, write about small instances and give the impression that they’ve created the work for everyone in the world to witness.
In many ways, it’s more difficult for a writer to fix their gaze on smaller issues. It takes a great eye for detail and tremendous powers of storytelling of letting an audience know just why those small events are symptomatic of something greater.
The Silencio’s Under Lock & Key is great at doing just that. Their upbeat, punk-infused hard-rock sounds like a blowup at the breakfast table. It’s not a murder scene yet, but, certainly, it will contribute to the way that the story is bound to end. The Silencio produces a confident, convincing hard-rock sound that should find numerous listeners.
