Lamps is a major bright spot.
Posted June 30, 2008
By Nathan,
After a single album, Identity, the band Grand Prize broke up sending Lead singer Luke Cadwell and Tony Caruso to start a new band called Esterlyn. This Indie rock band's first album, Lamps, is a great start, and it already sticks out.
The experience from Grand Prize helped a lot, from the song writing to the music, you can tell that it's much more refined and smooth. While Cadwell's vocals are still there, there is not too much similar about the past band. Even Cadwells vocals sound better. The only songs that sound like the medium rock sound that Grand Prize had is "reveal your love to me" and "like the rain" which are solid songs but nothing spectacular and definitely the weakest when it comes to song writing. The opening song "tie the leaves" is a little disjointed at a line in the chorus, but it's upbeat and has a good pace. It may be hard to get into Esterlyns music right off but it grows on the listener which is the case of "kill your own despair" which evens out at the end and it sounds a little like Seventhday Glory.
"We all need" is light, and while it is not a stick out song it has no flaws. The album jumps into high genre with "seasons of grey" a great rock tune with an excellent refrain and a brilliant bridge. "This mystery" is a light rock song, and the old school "back to the start" is infectious. It's a little odd to have an upbeat song called "emptiness" but that's the way it is with the non conventional, and catchy song. The most reckless song, and the heaviest, "faster, faster" is great, and the overlapping lines in the bridge is excellent. The title track "Lamps" is a great ballad, and the guitar at the end of the first chorus is brilliantly blended with the guitar, and Cadwells vocals. The album ends with "about you" which is a little annoying at times, but remains strong.
The songwriting is brilliant, it has increased considerably since Grand Prize as the band has moved past its predictable and simple messages. However that doesn't mean that Esterlyn has vague, on the contrary the lyrics are more colplex while being fully faith based. The entire theme of the album is on Matthew 5:16 which about being a light. "Tie the leaves" is about going against acceptance if it's about a fake identity 'We seem to fight for what we are not'. The singer in "Seasons of Gray" struggles of letting go of pain, and "we all need" stresses the importance of "faith", "love", and "love". Themes about waiting for Gods intervention ("faster, faster"), "propose" (emptiness") and the challenge to see God as the mystery he is ("This mystery").
Even though it's a debut album this is a break out CD for Cadwell and the rest of the band. Strong faith based songwriting and impressive music is all on Lamps, which should bring Esterlyn out of the shadows and into the light.
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