Album Review – The Once Was "Without Wings"
From the severely neglected radiostaticphilly.com mailbox comes an album review from Moorestown, NJ’s The Once Was. Their post-rock, smooth, electronic sound on their latest EP “Without Wings” is a great music for focus, relaxation and overall, chilling out. While their band consists of the traditional drums, bass, guitar and vocals the real power on this EP is the tasteful use of synth leads, synth pad, general keyboard sounds and environmental samples! Much like some of the other acts we’ve been covering lately (Allora Mis, In Place, etc…) these guys fit right in with their genre which is amazing that the post-rock genre is gaining some steam in the Philadelphia scene!
To explore their sound instrument by instrument, the tastefully technical drumming can be laid back to full on rocking. In the mix the drums sound huge, the cymbals have a really airy sound and the snare is at an appropriate tightness for their sound. The bass lines have an interesting deviation from the guitar riffs giving that extra sense of musicianship to the band on this recording. The guitars are selectively effected with driving riffs to really atmospherical textural soloing and acoustic guitars that have a very earthy, tangible sound down to the natural slide of their guitar players fingers on the acoustic strings. The vocals have a deep, emotional sound to them. If I could compare them to someone you may know, they really remind me of the guy from the Arcade Fire in some instances, but are definitely more interesting in some parts. The keyboards and field samples of nature sprinkled into their music definitely makes for a more alluring sound from this EP as well.
With a killer delayed solo guitar riff “Always” starts off “Without Wings” in a really compelling way. When the verse kicks in, it has a bit of a jazz inspired sound. The chorus repeats the title of the track four times with awesome drums and killer guitar lines! The bridge adds a bit of tension in a beautiful way and builds until it comes back into the chorus and the way the music cuts in and out is awesome! Guitar solos, synth pads, deviated bass lines, technical drumming and soothing vocals take the song to the ending in a powerful way. “Unimaginable Dream” takes the vibe way down with very subdued drumming, very low bass, a single guitar line and again chilled out vocals. When the keyboards and nature samples come in, it brings the entire song to a new level worthy of the song’s title! Upping the tempo is the third track “Bird Without Wings” has a really great piano part in the beginning and dreamy keys along with a song progression that rocks way harder than the last track. This song has a bit more of a classic rock feel to it than the other songs on the EP but with a modern twist on it with the keyboards adding a their signature futuristic sound. Finally, “Arrow To The Sun” starts with an acoustic guitar and vocal line that sets up the song to rock harder than any other on the EP. The choral vocals laid over top of the lead guitar work in the songs beginning riff gives this track an etherial feel to it. All of the instruments play their parts at peak performance to make “Arrow To The Sun” the best song, in my opinion, on the entire EP. The building parts in the middle gain a ton of tension, drop completely out only to get built back up and explode into the ending this EP deserves to be completely well rounded an amazingly awesome!
Overall, The Once Was absolutely put together a tremendous effort with “Without Wings!” These guys are highly talented musicians that understand how to write amazing songs with peaks and valleys in a post-rock setting that is exciting and acquires a depth that most bands tend to miss. They’re playing Silk City (I didn’t realize they were still doing shows but OK!) this Wednesday with Mike Declan and if you’re into a road trip outside of the city check them out at Puck in Doylestown on Friday, March 13th with Jeremiah Tall! So check out one of those shows, stream “Without Wings” below and get stoked on The Once Was!
– – – –