(Photo Credit - Sarah Cass)
Advance Review - Black Belt Eagle Scout - At the Party with My Brown Friends (August 30, 2019)
One of our favorite artists Black Belt Eagle Scout (Katherine Paul aka KP) is back with At the Party with My Brown Friends (Check out her guest spot on The Alt Revue Podcast here)! The album kicks off with the impressively soulful "At The Party". The vocals on the track are just so impressive, as is the melody. KP effortlessly moves throughout the song in an almost ethereal way. Her vocals
dance above the delicate guitar work and powerful drums. It very much makes a statement as the opener and I love it. "My Heart Dreams" is a track that features some great high and low guitar work. KP is an extremely underrated guitar player, who really should be mentioned up there with the best in alt more often.
"Going to the Beach with Haley" features some of the more aggressive guitar playing that KP has displayed in the past. It's great to hear her shred which juxtaposes itself from the slower verses. "Run It to Ya" has some absolutely great guitars, particularly the high notes. KP's vocals ground the track throughout as it builds to breakouts from the guitars, they build together and finally push as they're accompanied by drums. It's such a great moment when the wave breaks and the momentum of the track pushes ahead altogether at once. It's also somewhat of a heady experience as well, as those guitar high notes are a bit abstract.
"I Said I Wouldn't Write This Song" is up next and features one of the more traditional alt/indie melodies to it. The vocals are still softer as they have been with previous tracks on the album so far. There's also some cool lead guitar work that leads into some abstract vocalization, guitar combinations that are definitely alt leaning. "Scorpio Moon" is a short track, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in punch. It's soft, ethereal, and emotive. "You're Me and I'm You" features a soft acoustic melody. It also features KP exercising a wide range of her vocal register. I'll say it right now, when you listen, I'm sure you'll agree that this is the perfect way to land an album.
Summing it all up, KP has evolved with this album. She's featured a lot more alt leaning tracks, particularly those that feature softer vocals and melodies. The album features nine tracks that seamlessly weave one into the other. That's to say, there's a consistent theme present throughout. With all that in mind, I love this move for Black Belt Eagle Scout. These songs display KP's fantastic voice and ability to build a wall of a melody. I wish there was a bit more from the leads (but that's because I'm greedy). But that said, this album is absolutely fantastic.
Tracks I'd Recommend Immediately - "At the Party", "My Heart Dreams", "Run It to Ya", "I Said I Wouldn't Write This Song", and "You're Me and I'm You"
Rating - 4/5