When Kyle Andrews asks, “could we have a moment?” in “Sushi,” the opening track of his album Real Blasty, the answer is, “yes, we can have several.”
Real Blasty must be listened to for its moments, because when taken in its entirety the album and individual songs sound rather familiar, I might even say generic. The album is a good time, but not one I would spend a lot of energy to get to know.
Combining poppy electronica and folk-based indie elements is a great idea, and it’d be great if Kyle Andrews took that concept a bit further than his MySpace music description of Alternative/Acoustic/Electronica. Even more so, I feel lied to after also having read his description on Last.fm, and then listening to Real Blasty. “Kyle Andrews sears the collegiate indie-folk-dude template by firing up his mellow indie-rock drawl and acoustic strums and plicks with smart electronic flutters, organs and piano samples.”
I was expecting the Andrews of that description, but what we get in Real Blasty is way too much electronica that is far too typical sounding, entire songs that go without any trace of an acoustic instrument, and entire songs that go without any sort of electronic influence. Kyle don’t tease me so! I’m interested in an album of songs that explores electronic and folk at the same time, not alternating. Also, I think Real Blasty is a pretty misleading album title, because nothing about this album strikes me as “blasty” with it’s pretty mellow track list.
However, I did say to listen for the moments. The steel guitar of track 9, “Take It To Heart,” is gorgeous and the orchestration of “Call and Fade” is also quite fantastic, so listen in for the moving cello/violin line. The echoing vocals of the track are somewhat cheesy, but the cello solo totally makes up for it. Listen for the steel bells and other percussion frills in “I Wanted to Paint a Rainbow.” The best attempt at mixing indie and electronica is probably on track 3, “Polar Bear.” Listen for the piercing synth—you’ll have your moment.
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