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By nature, I really appreciate bands like The Breakfast, which includes young, ambitious, self-taught musicians who write their own music and are guided by a challenging array of influences - all essential things missing from today's shiny pop industry. And while they get close once in a while on their fourth album Real Radio, it’s just missing.
The overarching problem is immaturity, and I don't mean an age or attitude-related immaturity. It almost feels like Real Radio is an attempt to pay homage to every influence they want to play like, which is a double-edged sword. You get some honest and challenging music, maybe even revisit a few lost riffs on your dusty vinyl, but what you miss is that original voice - that "thing" that separates a band's sound from the sounds a band plays. There's a distinct difference in that, and the Breakfast are missing it.
That said, they sound more than capable of reining that sound in enough to help create that sound. But first they have to put away all their records and listen to the sounds in their collective head. They have to stop playing it safe.
One of the only things I know about the former Psychedelic Breakfast is that they can jam, and there’s only a little of that here. Like on “Gravity,” where they take their time and eventually score when Tim Palmieri’s deft guitar weaves in and out of Jordan Giengreco’s keyboard. When the others join in (Adrian Tramontano, drums and Ron Spears, bass) it’s a tightly shredded bliss. But then it barely moves. It has very little in the way of a rock foundation, and the notes that emanate from Radio plainly spell out that they do want to rock. They’re just not doing it enough. “Sleeping Beauty” does rock, but it isn’t enough.
The very last thing I want to do is to get on a band with promise, and the Breakfast have plenty of that. I just hope they can step outside their influences and get back to jamming. Because from the sounds of things, the Breakfast have reeled in their big jam sound for a Radio-friendly pop sound, which is a bad idea.
Scott Caffrey
JamBase | New Jersey
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