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Written by Michelle Blumsack Monday, 07 August 2006 01:52

One thing you'll be sure to notice is the complexity of Wydown's chord progressions.

A successful album from any genre fuses together all the elements of good music-making: well-crafted composition, in-tune vocalist(s), proficient instrumentals, and smooth production. Record stores are infested with successful albums; Noise of America is more than successful. Wydown has gone above and beyond in the areas mentioned above, while somehow managing to capture the intense onstage energy and spunk that is so essential to their musical core.

The St. Louis-based group can boast performances throughout the Midwest with bands such as LaPush, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, and Athlete. In concert, Wydown is a powerhouse of energy, and the vocals of keyboardist Nate Dewart and bassist Ethan Balis steal the show. These boys can sing.

One thing you'll be sure to notice is the complexity of Wydown's chord progressions. There's a quote that says something like, "Music should be unpredictable yet inevitable." The band avoids repetitive I, IV, V progressions like the plague, but the progressions used instead still seem to make sense on the same level of familiarity. The listener is interested and surprised, but still comfortable.

In addition to the chords themselves, Wydown's layering of melody, riffs, and chords is quite intricate. Whether a song is slower like "Long Island," or upbeat like "Noise of America," there is always something interesting going on. Add in those impressive vocals from Balis and Dewart and the result is, well, rockin'. As an example of Wydown's creativity, the final track, "The Tourist" starts out with a solo chromatic line in the vocals followed by a powerful echo by the rest of the band. All I could think (as I let a little restrained head banging) was, "Wow, they did their homework."

RIYL: The New Pornographers, Death Cab for Cutie

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