City Rain - Montage EP

I've actually been sitting at my monitor trying to decide how to properly talk about this album, this band and what they've created in this new EP.  I have started over and over because I really couldn't decide the best manner in which to proceed.  So I just stopped trying to write and listened to the album again.  It wasn't a moment of clarity or an epiphany or a bolt of lightning but as I was listening to "Big Boys Do Cry", it made me think of this a parable I've read about "The Small Stuff". It goes something like filling vase with rocks and then with sand and the sand filling all the cracks around the rocks. I think that's what City Rain is. Not small stuff but the sand. They fill all the cracks and fill out all the emptiness. The music just expands and takes up all the space.

You can classify the music any way you want, you can label it as synth pop or indie electronic; all I know is that when I listen to any of their tracks, I am immediately taken away from all the crap that I'm dealing with. There is something otherworldly and ethereal about the over all sound and vibe behind what they do. It's got a mercurial quality to it, you can hold it in your hand for a second but it will get away from you before you know what's happened.

Montage is their newest EP and the7 track album is probably the best 30 minutes I have spent every time I listen to it.  It's an easy album to sink into because there isn't any pretentiousness or overworked musical cliches.  Each time I've listened to it, and there have been many, I find something new to appreciate.  A new beat or riff or even a loop that takes me by surprise.  I've said it before that Ben's voice is incredible and has so much character and distinction to it that it makes the album flow.  He never seems out of place and he always has exactly what the track needs at that moment in time.

I would like to sit down and say this or that is my favorite track off the EP but each one has an organic nature to it and depending on the moment I am experiencing the music in, my tastes change.  Even the two orchestral tracks have a place.  One thing that I have tried not to do with this album is over analyze it.  I know that all the tracks have meaning and are grounded in substance,  I have read other reviews but I didn't want to assume I knew any more than I did with the tracks.

City Rain has quickly become one of my favorite groups and I am proud to call myself a fan.  I want to see them do amazing things because I think they deserve all the respect and accolades they can get.  Go to bandcamp and buy the EP.  Name your price because that's what all the cool kids are doing.  Trust me. you are going to listen to this album tremendously.

City Rain on the Web

http://www.cityraintunes.com
BandCamp: http://cityraintunes.bandcamp.com
SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/cityraintunes
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/cityraintunes
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityraintunes
Twitter: @cityraintunes