I love the spirit behind this album. Wave 21’s debut is the sort
of album capable of acknowledging life’s adversities but, ultimately,
preserving through them with the knowledge a better day will come. Wave 21’s
songwriting celebrates life’s virtues and marks down its inevitable failures.
The tandem behind these songs, sisters Mary Lynn and Emmy Lou Doroschuk, open
the release with the song “Ya Ya Ya” and it gets things off to a rowdy start.
The rowdiness, however, has a high stepping sound, a first rate singer with
Wave 21 lead vocalist Mary Lynn, and a band full of backing vocalists who bring
a spirit of their own to the music. If you think the song title sounds too
poppy, don’t close down and fail to give it a chance. The second song “Here We
Go” is even more life affirming, I think, and has a sense of life’s adventure
at its heart. There’s none of the electric guitar work heard in the opener;
instead, acoustic guitars lead the way as they across much of this album.
“Love Shouldn’t Make Me Cry” is one of the album’s musical
highpoints. I keep waiting and waiting for the song to come to some big time
chorus, but it never quite does and the closest thing we get to any sort of
classic style crescendo comes with and around the bridge. There’s a number of
musical highlights during the recording and Wave 21 more than amply demonstrates
their musicianship. This is definitely a cut above you’re average modern
country rock fare. “It’ll Be One of These Days” is tailor made for mass airplay
and hopefully gets it; the Doroschuk sisters really outdo themselves here with
a song that touches on universal themes in a style and way any listeners will
connect with. It’s one of the best acoustic guitar tracks, as well, on the
whole album.
“Pink Party” is another of the more clear cut country rock cuts
on the release. Mary-Lynn throws herself into this track with particular relish
the musical arrangement has a lot of the same subtlety they bring to this style
in order to make it more their own. The duo of “The Fun Times” and “Come To Me”
couldn’t be more different, but they represent two of my favorite points on the
entire album. The first song is a much more far reaching track, musically at
least, and can be considered an unplanned showcase of sorts for the band to
show off the full extent of their musical chops. The shift in tempo coming with
the song’s second half really drives the song home.
“Come to Me”, however, is an unfettered, open-hearted love song and difficult to shrug off as fluff thanks to an exquisite vocal and beautifully melodic arrangement. The final song “Far Away” is, also, the longest tune on the album and Wave 21 more than live up to its place in the running order with a palpable sense of its importance. There are some hints in the song, for attentive listeners, of where they may go from here musically. I know I’ll be joining them wherever they may travel.
“Come to Me”, however, is an unfettered, open-hearted love song and difficult to shrug off as fluff thanks to an exquisite vocal and beautifully melodic arrangement. The final song “Far Away” is, also, the longest tune on the album and Wave 21 more than live up to its place in the running order with a palpable sense of its importance. There are some hints in the song, for attentive listeners, of where they may go from here musically. I know I’ll be joining them wherever they may travel.
Missy Engelhardt
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