Jan 21 2009
Travis - Ode to J. Smith
I recently read about the recording of Travis’ new album Ode to J. Smith in the new issue of EQ magazine. The article inspired me to take a listen.
As I expected, the recording quality is great on this album - the songwriting is quite good as well.
The album sounds very natural and open. Nothing is overly-hyped sounding or greatly effected, which can be contributed to the live-in-the-studio recording process.
Broken Mirror is a great song on this album. It’s very moody and dark, but it’s also really interesting to listen to.
Friends is another song that stood out for me. It’s memorable, and the lyrics are interesting. Immediately after, Song to Self comes out of nowhere. It’s my favourite on the album, and I’d pick it for the second single (Just after I wrote this, I checked their myspace and it turns out it is their new single…I’m pretty proud of myself!).
As a whole, the album is very solid and each song fits in perfectly. The consistency of Fran Healy’s voice is simply inspiring, and each song is beautifully performed.
I think they’ve successfully won me over…what about you? Check out myspace.com/travis to sample some of their songs.
Sincerely,
BW.
