By Jared Field
Western Herald
Jazzy, funk, rock, pop; it’s difficult to put a label on Compendium.
The local seven-piece band has released its debut album entitled “How to find you,” with shows last Friday and Saturday at the Kalamazoo Union Cabaret and Grille.
Audience members walked away with a purple case with the word “Compendium,” which can be read upside down or right side up, a symbolic explanation of the way their music should be listened to.
The first track entitled “Intro,” displays some of the best vocal chords in the Kalamazoo area. Singer, who goes only by Galen, serenades the eardrums atop keyboard synthesizer, with a voice that sounds well trained, similar in style to “Across the Universe” star, Jim Sturgis.
The intro melts into the title track, “How to Find You,” an up tempo love song to a dance beat with open high hats on the “and” counts giving the track a near disco feel. A saxophone solo claims end to the song and brings the band together as all the instruments duke it out in a groovy bass-heavy jam with the sax calmly soaring above.
Track three, “Bird” is sure to be a favorite. Beginning with a nearly hip-hop drum riff into the relaxing melodies of the keyboards and Galen’s voice, he sings about a Bird who “flew right in, and changed my world.” The song builds chorus-by-chorus, adding vocal melodies with little do-ops, and off-time vocal lines that give the track ultra-complexities which show the group’s outstanding range of talent.
The funkiest of tunes on the album is the fourth track, “If You Fell You,” which, if listened closely carries a slight resemblance to the Bee Gees, mixed with a Stevie Wonder influence. The guitar part almost liquefies the song with the heavily oriented wah pedal, and guitarist Sean (Sunshine) Carney’s precisely funk-de-fied strumming patterns.
Later down the track list is a song perfectly named, “Flood.” Beginning with a rainstorm on the grand piano, into a call-and-response between drums and keys, the track overflows as it intensifies and carries listeners along a proverbial river of sound and mental journey. Mid-song lies yet another amazing saxophone solo, but this time, a brain busting drum solo, from drummer, Ryan Andrews, fulfills the part to perfection.
The ninth track is entitled “In Transition,” and the most musically inclined and complex track on the album. The nearly seven minute, lyric-less track, is filled with complex guitar shredding from beginning to end, yet another (but this time, rhythmically sound) sax solo, and snappy, skittered drum work through-out. The songs genius builds harder and harder every beat, and surely will not be missed.
Unfortunately, as all good things must, the album ends. Though not quietly, with a ‘well-played’ cover of “I Believe,” by Stevie Wonder, which rocks a little heavier and jams a tad more.
This album is truly an amazing product of a local Kalamazoo band. Compendium can only do great things for the Kalamazoo area and surely will, as they are willing to take music to the next level. “How to Find You,” can be purchased on iTunes, or at any local Kalamazoo record shop.
About aherter
This is a really intelligent review. You know your music!