Yarns87

Artist: The Whitest Boy Alive
Album: Dreams
Release Date: 11/26/07
Label: Bubbles
Rating: 10/10

For my first album review, I chose my favorite album of all time.  For those of you unfamiliar with The Whitest Boy Alive, which I suppose is most of you, WBA is a minimalist alternative/pop band from Berlin. The band consists of singer/guitarist Erlend Øye , bassist Marcin Öz, drummer Sebastian Maschat, and Daniel Nentwig on Rhodes piano and Crumar. Some of you may know Erlend Øye from the Norweigen indie folk/pop band Kings of Convenience or from the song ‘Remind Me‘ by Röyksopp which was featured in the airport caveman commercial by Geico.

I will start with my favorite song on the album, ‘Inflation‘. Not only do I think it is the best song on the album, but it may be my favorite song, period. It starts out with a simple guitar phrase after which is joined by a borderline disco bass line and a crisp drum beat. After the intro commences, Erlend Øye comes in on vocals with some of the shortest and to-the-point lyrics I’ve heard. There is a mysterious element to this song that grabs onto me. No matter how many times I listen to it (which by now is probably somewhere in the 300+ range), I enjoy it just as much as the first.

The next best song on the album (and probably WBA’s most popular song) is ‘Burning‘. More upbeat than the other songs on Dreams, ‘Burning‘ starts out with a snare drum crescendo into a homogeneous combination of guitar and bass. Unlike ‘Inflation‘, this song uses longer lyrical phrases during which the guitar cuts out except for a few key backup sections. In between each phrase the guitar enters for a quick solo, exhibiting scale ascending/descending strums.

Another song worth noting is ‘Golden Cage‘. It begins with a pumping bassline after which the characteristic minimalist guitar provides for excitement. While the guitar part may be lacking in number of notes, the melodic strums throughout the piece carry the song. With lyrics such as “So of course I miss you and miss you bad… But I also felt this way when I was still with you…“, the song captures and sparks emotion within the listener.

I highly suggest this album. The Whitest Boy Alive bring a new style to the table with ‘Dreams‘, a style unheard of before. Please check them out:

The Whitest Boy Alive Official Site
The Whitest Boy Alive Myspace

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Hello to those reading this. This is my first post on my new blog. On this blog, I will feature new music I have discovered, movie reviews, photography, and basically anything else that strikes me as interesting.