CD Reviews

Each month MusicSpectator.com will present our reviews and opinions of CD releases by Portland area musicians. Below is a list of the reviews that we currently have available.

'High Dive'

By Little Beirut
www.littlebeirut.com

Grade:B

This is the last thing I wrote for this issue. I had been avoiding listening almost to avoid having to work. So when I finally broke down and the music started playing I immediately kicked myself. I could have been listening to this all weekend?

Little Beirut is an indie-pop outfit made up of Hamilton Sims (vocals, guitar), Edwin Paroiddien (guitar, vox, keys), Jonathan Trause (bass) and Alex Inman (drums). They employ the basic instrumentation, with a smattering of horns, synthesizers, strings thrown in for good measure. But they are best when stripped down to the bare core band and pummeling a pop song for all it’s worth.

Most of the songs here are melodic trippy tunes that will find their way into your iPod, including the anti-sentimental love song to Condeleeza Rice, ‘Love During Wartime’. My favorites on this album are easily ‘Acid Wash Soul’, which would do well as a radio single, and ‘Star Maps’, which will now forever be played in my car.

The record is a tad overproduced at times, not applying to the school of ‘less is more’, and some of the synth intros and others come off a bit campy. Overall this is a delicious effort by a band stepping to the front of the class of a very crowded classroom.