As if you needed more reasons...
...to buy Aloud's Leave Your Light On, but here they are all the same:
Aloud and clear
Boston band Aloud follows its own path
BY JONATHAN PERRY
Stuff@Night Magazine
When she opens her mouth, Aloud singer-guitarist Jen de la Osa’s voice is so big it very nearly obliterates the muscular support system the rest of the band sets for her on "Release," the urgently powerful track that opens the foursome’s debut album, Leave Your Light On (Lemon Merchant). "I’m gonna die if I don’t get this off my chest," de la Osa warns, belting out a melody that seems to carry for miles. "I’m runnin’ down the street to your new apartment, my heart is beating fast / It’s beating out of my breast, I need to find a way to cut through this emptiness. . . . / Can’t you hear me screaming? I got something to tell you."
So far, de la Osa is doing a pretty fair job of following her urges, but then, that’s the way it’s always been for this Boston band, which, since forming around 2004, has followed its own path when it comes to making music. Aloud is not the fanciest or hippest outfit around. And it’s most certainly not the kind of self-consciously cool or studiously jaded outfit one has come to expect from a rock band trying to make its mark. It’s merely very good at what it does, which is to say rock with authority, fervor, and a belief that writing classically strong songs and performing the material with as much gusto as possible should count for something.
"My first concert was U2, and then Oasis, and the Stones, and that’s what I was exposed to," says de la Osa, whose band - singer-guitarist Henry Beguiristain, bassist Roy Fontaine, and drummer Ross Lohr - celebrates the release of Leave Your Light On with a May 19 show at T.T. the Bear’s Place. "So, every kind of reference point I had as a musician and performer were those kinds of bands. They informed my sense of what a band should be and bumped up against what we’re doing now."
Beguiristain, who met de la Osa when both were fledgling singer-songwriters living in Miami and moved here with her because, as he puts it, "Boston was a better place for rock and roll," shares his band mate’s view. "It goes back to my parents," he says. "I just grew up listening to the Beatles all the time, and the other classic-rock stuff that came along with it, like the Who, Dylan, Elton John. That approach to writing a song, having the melody stick and yet still be a little bit challenging, is what [inspired] me."
The pair wrote the songs - sturdy, emotionally charged modern rock with a classic echo - that would eventually land on Aloud’s 2004 EP, The Sooner It Comes, and found their bassist and current drummer after placing ads in the Boston Phoenix. The chemistry among the four band members was immediate - currently, they all live within a block of one another in Allston - and the shows became more frequent. Eventually, they followed the advice of their friend Hugh Wyman (formerly of the Boston glam-pop band Baby Strange) to record a full-length album. (Wyman ended up producing.)
It was a solid piece of advice, and Leave Your Light On is a bold, self-assured album full of big guitars, bigger hooks, and, of course, de la Osa’s gargantuan voice. Beguiristain, who contributes tastefully masterful electric guitar throughout, also splits the vocal duties, which makes for a cool contrast of voices, gender, and attitude, and gives the album a wider sense of dynamics than most. He and de la Osa tend to write separately, although they’re quick to pitch in on a chorus here or a verse there.
"I think we’ve figured out how the other works, and know what we’re each inclined to do as songwriters," de la Osa says. "Having that outside input is good, and I trust Henry and the band completely when it comes to getting a song right. And that’s a big deal - having the trust to let somebody mess with your song."
When they began recording Light, everything had to be as perfect as possible, says de la Osa, although she and Beguiristain groan when describing the painstaking process of making an album that felt booby-trapped with little setbacks. "We wanted something that was representative of us, and we felt that if we were going to do this record, then we wanted to do it the right way," says de la Osa. "We wanted to hold up a mirror to ourselves and introduce ourselves to people. I think that putting out records and being a band is about building a friendship with an audience."
And when it’s done right, she adds, "music can make you feel like there’s a revolution going on, even if it’s only in your head."
*****
Fronted by guitarist-vocalists Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain, Aloud play hooky, unvarnished pop propped up by punchy bass-lines and attacking drums (provided by Roy Fontaine and Ross Lohr, respectively).
Jen’s the smoldering Jezebel behind the big clanging guitar with a hint of Guinness foam on her upper lip; Henry’s the missing Gallagher brother with a slavish devotion to all things Beatlesque or even remotely Mod-Rocker (that makes him, to quote Ringo, a Mocker).
Jen and Henry also write most of the band’s songs, which are steeped in classic rock chord progressions, and infused in performance with unpredictable changes and finishes that elevate them above their workmanlike roots. It’s always challenging to channel stuff that sounds instantly familiar to listeners and brand it your own (even though it is), but Aloud seems to have fused passion and skill to playing rock in a way that stamps it theirs. I can imagine an earlier incarnation of Aloud flirting with a kiss-of-death "derivative" label, or being called just another "regional bar band." Breaking those shackles requires mixing mania with the precision in playing and getting hormonal vocally more often that not. Which Aloud allows itself to do with abandon, and should really let fly.
Born and raised in Florida in the Big 80s, Aloud founders J & H met when they were 15, and started making music. Fast-forwarding to the late 90s found them U-hauling their gritty sound out of salsa-soaked Miami and heading to Beantown - to satisfy a hankering to play gutsy, glorious rock and roll. On their magical mystery drive north on I-95, I think they must have stopped off at Strawberry Fields to smell the morning glories, and maybe rested just a little while in the shade of a Joshua Tree dreaming of the perfect mix tape. Into the influences blender along with the Fab Four, Oasis, U2, and the Who went the Verve and the Supremes, Coldplay and the Stones, Dylan and the Strokes. Seems that every kinda music was "allowed." Maybe even some Rutles and Sly and the Family Stone. And some Aretha too.
Following in the spilled beer of such Charles River mainstays as The Pixies, The Del Fuegos, Dinosaur, Jr., and Buffalo Tom, this rubber-souled quartet generate that seminal dirty water sound that appeals to college kids, barflies, and rockhounds everywhere. Aloud’s sound is all about raw, Ramonesey tri-chord riffs that are as jukebox basic as "yeah, yeah, yeah" and devilishly catchy. Theirs is a straight-ahead Boston band sound that is as far away from the band Boston as you can get (well, Boston by way of Miami, that is). No Tom Scholz Rockman guitar FX emulators here. Drumsticks and picks ARE the technology.
A bright fixture on the Boston music scene since 2002, and veterans of many Eight-Hour Van Ride Tours of the Northeast Corridor, Aloud has just brought their serrated, sinewy pop out of Cavern Clubs from Buffalo to Portland (Maine) and into the light of MySpace with four sharp tracks from their debut long-player Leave Your Light On.
The songs are "Beaches" (also served up as a video), a soulfully belted-out (by de la Osa) driving tune that has single written all over it; "All I Can Do;" "Slipped In Your Dream," and the wet-sprocketed ballad "Godspeed."
Jen and Henry’s shared vocals blend beautifully or simply complement one another throughout, but it’s de la Osa’s stylistic range that is most striking. She can unleash a smoky purr that reminds me of Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano one moment, and then transition into a wailing alto that makes you think Chrissie Hynde just stepped on stage.
Beguiristain, the band’s ostensible bitch attractant (who appears to be addicted to Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies and who speaks fluent Bababooey) sings and plays purely and easily amid the musculature of Fontaine and Lohr’s foundation. He also harmonizes super-well with de la Osa on both vox and guitar, and can coax a proto-Standells barbaric yawp of his own from either instrument when required.
What is it about the Boston sound I like? And is it caused by all that tea in the water? Not overly nuanced and about as subtle as a Doc Martens in the ass, but I like it. No sitting quietly allowed. Listen, shake a lot, and smile.
-LB, MyspaceMusicReview
You NEED it, trust me.
Aloud and clear
Boston band Aloud follows its own path
BY JONATHAN PERRY
Stuff@Night Magazine
When she opens her mouth, Aloud singer-guitarist Jen de la Osa’s voice is so big it very nearly obliterates the muscular support system the rest of the band sets for her on "Release," the urgently powerful track that opens the foursome’s debut album, Leave Your Light On (Lemon Merchant). "I’m gonna die if I don’t get this off my chest," de la Osa warns, belting out a melody that seems to carry for miles. "I’m runnin’ down the street to your new apartment, my heart is beating fast / It’s beating out of my breast, I need to find a way to cut through this emptiness. . . . / Can’t you hear me screaming? I got something to tell you."
So far, de la Osa is doing a pretty fair job of following her urges, but then, that’s the way it’s always been for this Boston band, which, since forming around 2004, has followed its own path when it comes to making music. Aloud is not the fanciest or hippest outfit around. And it’s most certainly not the kind of self-consciously cool or studiously jaded outfit one has come to expect from a rock band trying to make its mark. It’s merely very good at what it does, which is to say rock with authority, fervor, and a belief that writing classically strong songs and performing the material with as much gusto as possible should count for something.
"My first concert was U2, and then Oasis, and the Stones, and that’s what I was exposed to," says de la Osa, whose band - singer-guitarist Henry Beguiristain, bassist Roy Fontaine, and drummer Ross Lohr - celebrates the release of Leave Your Light On with a May 19 show at T.T. the Bear’s Place. "So, every kind of reference point I had as a musician and performer were those kinds of bands. They informed my sense of what a band should be and bumped up against what we’re doing now."
Beguiristain, who met de la Osa when both were fledgling singer-songwriters living in Miami and moved here with her because, as he puts it, "Boston was a better place for rock and roll," shares his band mate’s view. "It goes back to my parents," he says. "I just grew up listening to the Beatles all the time, and the other classic-rock stuff that came along with it, like the Who, Dylan, Elton John. That approach to writing a song, having the melody stick and yet still be a little bit challenging, is what [inspired] me."
The pair wrote the songs - sturdy, emotionally charged modern rock with a classic echo - that would eventually land on Aloud’s 2004 EP, The Sooner It Comes, and found their bassist and current drummer after placing ads in the Boston Phoenix. The chemistry among the four band members was immediate - currently, they all live within a block of one another in Allston - and the shows became more frequent. Eventually, they followed the advice of their friend Hugh Wyman (formerly of the Boston glam-pop band Baby Strange) to record a full-length album. (Wyman ended up producing.)
It was a solid piece of advice, and Leave Your Light On is a bold, self-assured album full of big guitars, bigger hooks, and, of course, de la Osa’s gargantuan voice. Beguiristain, who contributes tastefully masterful electric guitar throughout, also splits the vocal duties, which makes for a cool contrast of voices, gender, and attitude, and gives the album a wider sense of dynamics than most. He and de la Osa tend to write separately, although they’re quick to pitch in on a chorus here or a verse there.
"I think we’ve figured out how the other works, and know what we’re each inclined to do as songwriters," de la Osa says. "Having that outside input is good, and I trust Henry and the band completely when it comes to getting a song right. And that’s a big deal - having the trust to let somebody mess with your song."
When they began recording Light, everything had to be as perfect as possible, says de la Osa, although she and Beguiristain groan when describing the painstaking process of making an album that felt booby-trapped with little setbacks. "We wanted something that was representative of us, and we felt that if we were going to do this record, then we wanted to do it the right way," says de la Osa. "We wanted to hold up a mirror to ourselves and introduce ourselves to people. I think that putting out records and being a band is about building a friendship with an audience."
And when it’s done right, she adds, "music can make you feel like there’s a revolution going on, even if it’s only in your head."
*****
Fronted by guitarist-vocalists Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain, Aloud play hooky, unvarnished pop propped up by punchy bass-lines and attacking drums (provided by Roy Fontaine and Ross Lohr, respectively).
Jen’s the smoldering Jezebel behind the big clanging guitar with a hint of Guinness foam on her upper lip; Henry’s the missing Gallagher brother with a slavish devotion to all things Beatlesque or even remotely Mod-Rocker (that makes him, to quote Ringo, a Mocker).
Jen and Henry also write most of the band’s songs, which are steeped in classic rock chord progressions, and infused in performance with unpredictable changes and finishes that elevate them above their workmanlike roots. It’s always challenging to channel stuff that sounds instantly familiar to listeners and brand it your own (even though it is), but Aloud seems to have fused passion and skill to playing rock in a way that stamps it theirs. I can imagine an earlier incarnation of Aloud flirting with a kiss-of-death "derivative" label, or being called just another "regional bar band." Breaking those shackles requires mixing mania with the precision in playing and getting hormonal vocally more often that not. Which Aloud allows itself to do with abandon, and should really let fly.
Born and raised in Florida in the Big 80s, Aloud founders J & H met when they were 15, and started making music. Fast-forwarding to the late 90s found them U-hauling their gritty sound out of salsa-soaked Miami and heading to Beantown - to satisfy a hankering to play gutsy, glorious rock and roll. On their magical mystery drive north on I-95, I think they must have stopped off at Strawberry Fields to smell the morning glories, and maybe rested just a little while in the shade of a Joshua Tree dreaming of the perfect mix tape. Into the influences blender along with the Fab Four, Oasis, U2, and the Who went the Verve and the Supremes, Coldplay and the Stones, Dylan and the Strokes. Seems that every kinda music was "allowed." Maybe even some Rutles and Sly and the Family Stone. And some Aretha too.
Following in the spilled beer of such Charles River mainstays as The Pixies, The Del Fuegos, Dinosaur, Jr., and Buffalo Tom, this rubber-souled quartet generate that seminal dirty water sound that appeals to college kids, barflies, and rockhounds everywhere. Aloud’s sound is all about raw, Ramonesey tri-chord riffs that are as jukebox basic as "yeah, yeah, yeah" and devilishly catchy. Theirs is a straight-ahead Boston band sound that is as far away from the band Boston as you can get (well, Boston by way of Miami, that is). No Tom Scholz Rockman guitar FX emulators here. Drumsticks and picks ARE the technology.
A bright fixture on the Boston music scene since 2002, and veterans of many Eight-Hour Van Ride Tours of the Northeast Corridor, Aloud has just brought their serrated, sinewy pop out of Cavern Clubs from Buffalo to Portland (Maine) and into the light of MySpace with four sharp tracks from their debut long-player Leave Your Light On.
The songs are "Beaches" (also served up as a video), a soulfully belted-out (by de la Osa) driving tune that has single written all over it; "All I Can Do;" "Slipped In Your Dream," and the wet-sprocketed ballad "Godspeed."
Jen and Henry’s shared vocals blend beautifully or simply complement one another throughout, but it’s de la Osa’s stylistic range that is most striking. She can unleash a smoky purr that reminds me of Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano one moment, and then transition into a wailing alto that makes you think Chrissie Hynde just stepped on stage.
Beguiristain, the band’s ostensible bitch attractant (who appears to be addicted to Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies and who speaks fluent Bababooey) sings and plays purely and easily amid the musculature of Fontaine and Lohr’s foundation. He also harmonizes super-well with de la Osa on both vox and guitar, and can coax a proto-Standells barbaric yawp of his own from either instrument when required.
What is it about the Boston sound I like? And is it caused by all that tea in the water? Not overly nuanced and about as subtle as a Doc Martens in the ass, but I like it. No sitting quietly allowed. Listen, shake a lot, and smile.
-LB, MyspaceMusicReview
You NEED it, trust me.