Record Review: Rogue Wave - Permalight
Written by Russ Crandall   
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 03:03
I may not say this often enough, but I'm a big fan of Rogue Wave. There's a Shins-esque vitality to them that just keeps me coming back for more. I've always considered band leader Zach Schwartz (who goes by Zach Rogue, even though no one else in the band uses that last name, bless his little heart) to be an unspoken genius of the indie music world; he's taken songs that could be slightly mediocre, and adds just the right twinge of style and inventiveness to keep it afloat. It's an inspiring gift that has waned as of late.

Permalight is the fourth album by Rogue Wave, and if you ask me, it's their second bad album. 2007's Asleep At Heaven's Gate suffered from about 15% too much reverb, while lacking about 64% of the inventive melodies the band had touted during their first two records. The end result was a meandering and useless statement that wasn't pop, wasn't rock, and wasn't very good. I'm happy to say that Permalight isn't lacking in catchy melodies. Instead, it suffers from a lack of focus, or rather, the wrong focus. These are songs that sound like they're trying to appeal to an OC-watching crowd; problem is, The OC was cancelled years ago. These pop songs have sacrificed quality for accessibility, and it leaves me with a shallow taste in my mouth. In fact, b-sides from the first two Rogue Wave albums fare better than Permalight - if you were a fan of the first two albums by this band, you'd be better off spending your time looking up those old b-sides than listening to this album.

Release date: March 2nd, 2010
Comments (1)
0
Not that bad
written by John I.G>, February 23, 2010
I definately think it took a bit too much influence from outside it's edges, but it's just trying to do something different, instead of the album length experience, they seem to be going for more individual songs. Which is a new direction, and sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but there are some really good songs on this album. It took me a little time to warm up to the album, but I can enjoy it now.

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