Music Review: Wide Awake

Wide Awake
Canon
2006 Mercy Records
4.5 out of 5

Let me begin by pointing out that music and literature are twin arts, and thus I feel that it makes perfect sense to review music here.

Let me follow up by saying that this has already, after only three listens, become one of my favorite albums. I think that the easiest way of getting across the sound and style is by comparison, although I cannot make just one here or I’ll be leaving out a lot of interesting features. Imagine a marriage of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Jamiroquai, and early Kansas. For lyrical style, combine Trail of Dead with Kansas. If you’re familiar with any two of the aforementioned bands, that ought to give you a pretty good idea.

If it weren’t enough that the music is brilliantly composed and beautifully executed, the lyrics are both simple and meaningful. Included are several anti-authoritarian songs, some celebrations of life, at least one critique of modern society, and a song about sacred geometry. That ought to get your mouth a-waterin’, and if it doesn’t I’m not really positive why you’d be reading one of my blogs in the first place.

Anyway, check it out. I haven’t been as pleasantly surprised by an album in months.