We featured Civil Twilight a few weeks back for their wildly popular single “Letters From the Sky”. This alt/punk band has exploded on the alt/punk rock scene as of late and for good reason. Their haunting melodies mixed with smooth piano and percussion as steady as a heartbeat make their sound comparable to Muse or Barcelona (without emulating their exact sound of course.)
But how do these guys’ success translate beyond their wildly popular single? Well, they’ve been around since their debut release in 2007, but really only started to receive notable success with their 2009 self-titled release. “Letters From the Sky” reached #7 on the U.S. Alternative charts and #1 in my heart. So their single helped open the doorway to the great tracks on the self-titled album (which just so happen to be just as good.) After hearing the album in its entirety, I was immediately drawn to the vocals which lend an almost eerie ambiance to an interesting mix of emotional tracks.
It is quite easy to get lost in the music which, to me, is a unique quality that few bands possess. You could close your eyes and forget for a moment where you are and what you’re doing. I suppose that could be dangerous on most occassions (say, for example, you were driving a race car or skydiving or something…that would probably be un-good.) But in most normal situations, it is a pleasant escape from the busy ramblings of everyday life.
Check out the video for “Letters From the Sky”:
Buy Civil Twilight:
Civil Twilight – “Letters From the Sky”
Just having the word “Twilight” in its title, this song probably upped it’s Google hits by 10,000% in the 12-17 year-old female demographic, but you don’t have to love Edward Cullen to love this song. Trust us, this has nothing to do with Stephanie Meyer. Instead, we get a haunting piano piece with a smooth, driving drumbeat and emotional vocals typical of something you’d hear out of Coldplay. Except it’s not Coldplay, so it has that going for it.
Mojo Morgan – “Million $ Check”
If you took the sound of somebody breaking wind and ran in through a synthesizer, you’d have the surprisingly catchy bass line of this new cut from Mojo Morgan. Clean guitars supplement that musical elephant stomp for an R&B track that can’t do anything other than make you smile and tap the hell out of your toes.
David Nail – “Turning Home”
We don’t like our country music to lean too heavily towards pop music, but we also don’t like it to sound like someone named Billy Bob Joe Robbie is singing lead. Somewhere in the middle is ideal, and David Nail, whose “Red Light” is up for a CMA,” absolutely “nails” that happy medium (get it?). “Turning Home” is a nice relaxing country ballad with just enough rhythm to make you hit the steering wheel with the butt of your palm when the chorus kicks in.
