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Alpha Rev

Casey McPherson has a pop-radio voice. Fortunately for all of us, his songwriting transcends what you would usually expect from someone who sings like that guy from Train. McPherson and friends weave standard rock instrumentation around plenty of piano and strings (all live, mind you) to wind up with something approaching orchestral rock. There's plenty of slow-burn balladeering on their debut EP, The Greatest Thing I Ever Learned, but the band is not afraid to bring the rock, as on "Stuck in a Crowd," which is vaguely reminiscent of when Radiohead still released decent material. The band frequents the sonic landscape of the British Isles but is definitely not British: American roots (and roots-rock) abound, as on "Phoenix Burn." Wartime Social and the Mercers open.
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Nicholas Hall