Artist: Crashland

Artist: Crashland

Links: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crashland/165461966831888

http://crashlandmusic.com/CDInfo.php

Crashland's Novus Initium could be the soundtrack for America's fascination with extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects. After you think through the real-world implications of encounters with other-worldly "things" (for lack of a better word), you'd conclude -- as Crashland surely has -- that one genre of music is just not enough to convey the width and breadth of the alien experience.

For example, what do you listen to as you drive along the "Old Mountain Road" that ultimately leads you to your spaceship abductors? Southern rock. But only acoustic balladry can convey the emotion of leaving loved ones behind once aboard the "Spaceship"; on the track, Derek Jesky's soulful vocal asks aloud to no one in particular, "Where am I going? / What will I do? / Now I'm lost on the spaceship / Missing you."

And it's Jesky again on vocal lead for the album's song-writing standout, "Darkside Cafe," penned by Dave Parkinson, the song-writer/multi-instrumentalist behind many of Crashland's most memorable songs. It could be about aliens or UFO's, but I wouldn't know it; regardless, "Darkside Cafe" is among the best blues tracks of the year. It's slow-burn blues at its finest.

There are no less than nine musicians and two song-writers committed to this album's exploration of other planets and galaxies, and all are notably gifted: Sit back and enjoy the quality fretting of the instrumental "Beehive," guitar work that goes far beyond merely conjuring a swarm of bees; and check out the bass/synth of "The Riddle The Rhyme."

I could attempt to classify Crashland by listing numerous bands as reference points, but I can't honestly think of a single one that wouldn't limit them to a genre they've already broken out of. Their instrumentation alone makes Crashland worth the listen; but it's the band's quality song-writing that makes Novus Initium worthy of its fascinating subject matter.

*** The author of this review, Steven Thompson, plays the baboula for the following band: http://youtu.be/tMS73-1kCr8