The Commotions - Volume II
Great R&B/soul acts like this are
scarce on the 2017’s music scene. This form, complete with horns and a strong
blues influence, is often viewed as a retro or archaic musical style lacking
any modern relevancy. While it has seemingly fallen out of commercial favor,
the artistic potential of the music has never been exhausted and it is as true
as ever that bringing something of yourself to the music is essential for
making this style rise above its vast past. The Commotions’ songwriting brings
that quality to the fore along with a depth of intelligence informing every
aspect that’s quite unlike anything we’ve heard from the genre in many years.
The Commotions hail from the Ottawa, Canada area but their upbringing in the
Great White North doesn’t seem to impede their understanding of such an
inherently American form. Volume II blows their fine debut release out of the
water and the sprawling nature of the release isn’t taxing at all – instead, it
comes off as a true creative outpouring.
“Good Enough” nicely winds up and gets
off to a sweeping start with Noelle’s singing backed up by some great backing
vocals. The good attitude coming off of this performance is impossible to
ignore and Noelle taps into that energy without ever dominating or obscuring
the musical quality. The horns are a big part of why this song succeeds with
such ease. It’s a great beginning. :Masquerade” will make a great live song and
promises to be one of the album’s best chances to garner some radio play.
There’s more of an instrumental quality driving this song than the orchestral
approach you hear on many of the other songs included with this release. Noelle
gives us one of her best vocals with the song “Let Me Kiss You, Baby” and it
raises the musical fire of the song up several degrees thanks to the way the
players feed off her vocal pyrotechnics. “Too Little, Too Late” is another
great uptempo number and pairs up nicely with the aforementioned song. Jeff
Rogers gives a nicely soulful vocal performance on the song “Say Yes to Me
Tonight”, but this song might have benefitted from being slowed down a little
further. His vocal for the song should
pick up its energy level a little, but there’s no such quibbles with the song
“Right Kind of Wicked” and Rogers digs deep with this one in a way that will leave
few, if any, unimpressed.
Rogers scores again with the bluesy
“Don’t Walk Away”, but there’s some funkier elements sneaking their way into
that track. The band’s one attempt at a slower, more intimate ballad comes with
“Loving You” and it affords listeners a nice change of pace from the across the
board liveliness of the earlier songs. The final cut “Come Clean” is a Rebecca
Noelle gem with the same bluesy atmospherics as the earlier “Don’t Walk Away”
but forsaking the funky aspects. There’s something on this album for everyone.
The Commotions’ Volume II has ambition to burn, but they keep things accessible
throughout and are definitely out to please the audience.
Laura Dodero
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