Last week we introduced you to Isaboe, now we’d like to tell you all about her debut album “Love Sun” and the all kinds of fantastic it is. Slotting right into the pop rock with added layers of emotion and intrigue, Isaboe is perfect traffic driving music to let you forget where you are.
Opener “Brightest Love” puts you straight on the map with a relatively straight forward pop rock anthem that slows down for the chorus. It does give you clues to Isaboes penchant for more lesser heard organs and isntruments hiding behind the big gutiar/bass/drum trinity however and that combined with Isaboe’s melting vocals make you sit up and pay attention. “Calling To You” is more punchier and like a speeding highway with its underplayed distortion and the weaving for pianos, electric guitars and keyboards. This track stands out as a personal favourite from the album.
“Future World” is the other personal favourite! It leans much more heavily towards a symphonic not-so-very-easy listening track with its heavy melodic mood but positive worldy outlook. It stradles quite a few genres all at once (the closest I can think music wise in my circle of artists is Joy Askew but I suppose genre wise its chillout for the alternative thinking man) and the song writing and lyrics really stand out here. “Love Sun” follows the more chill-out route that Future World took but with more electronic embellishment over it and the organs and blips throughout the track give it a real upliftiing boost and the bridge riffs are nifty too.
“Golden Year” was the single for the album and it represents the more acoustic rock side of the album perfectly. The guitars and organs jangling away and the catchy choruses getting inserted nicely into the brain, it does a good job of showcasing Isaboe’s many talents. “Revelation” is a quiet anthem march for taking charge of our own actions. It’s something of a common theme in several of the songs but this is where Isaboe feels she can really tell everyone what she thinks of what we’re doing to ourselves in society and the world around us. It’s very interesting though that through what at times sounds like perfectly innocent music, the lyrics are so far from fluffy nothings its quite refreshing.
“Stellar Child” is another catchy acoustic rock song which is about as non-linear as the album gets with its collection on minor chords and marching drums and Isaboe not being afraid to go outside her restrained vocal delivery as the rest of the album has. “Home” sounds different in terms of production with its layered vocals and gentle ballad tempo. This track could easily find itself on very radio rotation and is both catchy and immediately gratifying. A perfect song to snuggle up to a loved one with – and perfect for a romantic film time lapse segment!
The final track “For All Our Days” see’s the album round off with a laid back uplifting summer breeze rock track. By now, you know what you’re getting as the music is so well crafted and smoothly produced that you’ll be singing along with the chorus’ and oooh’ing along with the guitar riffs and then humming along with the keyboard chords that hide behind most of the tracks.
“Love Sun” is not normally something I’d completely rave about. Usually I need something a bit more edgy and for want of a better word, angrier and more annoyed! However there is just something about Isaboe’s debut album that completely disarmed me and told me that I would not be putting this album down until I had thoroughly enjoyed all its anthems inside and out. “Love Sun” straddles the pop/rock and chill out rock genres with aplomb and each song has a weight to it that is very tangeable and its never cheesey at all. Beautifully smooth production, catchy songs that never step outside of being completely respectful and humble and a voice that could breeze through your hair without ruffling a strand – this has to be one of the most plesant surprises I have came across in 2010! Loved it!