COAST REDWOOD - ALBUM REVIEW

Coast Redwood - Spirit (Radiclaw Records) 
Coast Redwood - Spirit

Release Date: 4th March 2014

Coast Redwood seem like nice guys. Nice Canadian guys. Even their music is nice and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. These four guys create those kind of chord changes and rich melodies that hug you in that warm way that an old whisky or a warm fire does. Opening tack 'Away From The Wasteland', for instance, is full of thick, warm guitars and swathes of organ that just wrap around you and sweep you away to your happy place. Then again, 'Dead Where It Lay' starts off with a 'Walking On Sunshine' drum riff followed by a pop-punk melody that just makes you want to pogo around your living room until you take out a light or a ceiling fan if you live in a warm part of the world. 'Cassiopeia' (great title) is a mellow and melodic piece of loveliness with a country tinge while 'The Train/The Station' is a Beatles-esque riff accompanied by angular vocals and an edgy beat.

Apart from being a cracking title, 'Redbloodedteenagejerkoff' sounds like Redd Kross as produced by Kings Of Leon and then along comes 'Tollbooths & Highways' being all jangly and suave like a weird mix of the Arctic Monkeys and Edwyn Collins. It's on the lazily brilliant 'Let Me Dig' that Coast Redwood have really hit gold though as the gorgeous slide guitars and oak-smoked vocals blend to make a beautifully sun drenched early morning of a song. The album finishes up with 'End Of The Hunt' which starts off sleepily but ends up as a full on Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Thin Lizzy road tune. I said these guys were nice and the music was nice which could be seen as damning with faint praise but I genuinely enjoyed this music. True enough, it didn't get my heart racing but that's not what nice does - it just made me feel happy and perfectly suited my mood at the end of a long day. Nice guys don't always finished last.


More information: https://www.facebook.com/CoastRedwood

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