Arrica Rose & The …’s: Let Alone Sea Review
Sometimes it takes a gimmick to get people in. On Arrica Rose’s 3rd full-length, Let Alone Sea, it’s the closer. What starts as a slow, hazy cover of the Buggle’s “Video Killed The Radio Star” morphs suddenly and seamlessly into Louie Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” and back. A seemingly clever idea, but it’s not what the strengths of this record are about.
Arrica and her backing band The …’s (Dot Dot Dots) do a good job of fleshing things out with smatterings of lap steel, violin, and horns throughout the record, helping blend things to a place somewhere between folk rock and dream pop. The opener, “Everybody,” is a folk rock song that is the record’s most straight-ahead tune that mainly opens things up for the wonderfully hazy Mazzy Star-esque dreaminess of “Sail Away”. Throughout the rest of the record, things bounce around, from the spy theme guitar of “We Made It Out Alright” to the New Orleans-styled horns of “Summer’s Gonna Burn Me (So Are You).” “When The Clouds Hang This Low” is another highlight as a simple guitar and vocal ballad builds into a giant climactic chorus of voices and violin. The record closes 40 minutes later with the before-mentioned cover song mashup.
Arrica Rose and the band have a lot going for themselves on Let Alone Sea. The band doesn’t need any gimmicky cover songs or anything to distinguish themselves; the power of Rose’s voice with the band when they’re at their hazy best is all they need. The record sometimes strays, but Let Alone Sea is a good stepping stone for a band ready to make a bigger step.
-Adam
