Single Review: Lavers - Our Little Empire

Single Rating: A

Lavers The Street Is A Symphony was the perfect EP for those of us who felt nostalgic: it had acoustic ballads that sounded like they were straight out of the 1970's, it had self-loathing anthems that made us feel like we were in the middle of an Oasis mosh pit in the mid 1990's, it had a 1980's Springsteenish sounding folk song, and it even incorporated some 1960's Beatles and Beach Boys influences.  If you ever wanted to revisit a place in your past, The Street Is A Symphony was going to be your EP: the band had created songs that perfectly summarized just about every decade, sound, and nostalgic feeling in radio rock history.  They had created an album you could listen to at just about any time, when you were in any mood, and most importantly when you wanted to listen to just about anything.  Even though this seemed like it was a enormous achievement on the surface, the EP seemed to be more of a greatest hits album than an actual original Lavers work.  The EP seemed to be a summer playlist a fat kid gives to his crush instead of an original work of art, the EP seemed to have a lot of voices instead of just sounding like a Lavers EP, and the EP seemed to be made for occasional nostalgia instead of lasting excellence.  It was easy to see that Lavers were a band that just oozed potential, but they had to make this potential THEIR OWN potential.

Artist of the Day: Lavers

Lavers is a new indie band with a very old sound.  They released their EP The Street Is A Symphony earlier this year, and the band has a growing fanbase on the internet and on tour.  The Street Is A Symphony features five very good songs: it has the powerful acoustic song "Blue Rose," it has the ballady "Meet Me At The Merry Go Round," the very rocking "Old-Fashoned Girl," the epic "Cosmic Ambulance," and the folk sounding "Tangled Up In Dreams."  Every song on the album presents a different and unique sound, but is a sound that should still sound very familiar to the listener.

Lavers The Street Is A Symphony sounds like the perfect playlist for 1990's indie music: it combines the catchiness and youthfulness of Oasis What's The Story Morning Glory? the instrumentation and quirkiness of Radiohead's The Bends, and the in depth songwriting of Built To Spill's There's Nothing Wrong With Love.  

Listen to "Cosmic Ambulance" and be amazed.

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