RIYL: Queen, Panic at the Disco, Jeff Buckley
It seems safe to predict that the best thing to come from Julie Taymors’ Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark debacle will be the newfound awareness of leading man Reeve Carney and his sideshow band “Carney”. After all the fractured skulls have healed and lawsuits settled its worth hoping that the spotlight will stay lit for this innovative foursome, though for the time being the Spider-Man machine has effectively eclipsed the band.
Back in 2008 Carney released the ambitious 4-song EP “Nothing Without You” and their recent full-length “Mr. Green: Vol. 1” features reworked versions of some of these earlier tracks as well as new higher gloss offerings. Brothers Reeve and Zane Carney form the bands core, with Reeve as the superhero front man and Zane playing sidekick and slaying evildoers with his Fender. Their music effectively alternates between a highly theatrical mix of rock and pop at its best to a more traditional blues-based sound, with the tunes remaining consistently compelling no matter the format.
Standout tracks “Nothing Without You” and “There She Goes” from the EP are such highly innovative amalgams that they’re hard to pin to a specific genre. The title track is definitely the main attraction here, a thrill-filled spasm of angst and pining that smartly fuses electric organ stabs, arpeggio chord structures and a herky-jerky rhythm into a roller coaster of spellbinding highs and lows. The track comes complete with a searing guitar solo and some soaring multi-harmonized falsettos in the bridge- making it easy to see how Taymor found Carneys vocal skills anything but wanting.
“There She Goes” follows a similar, if less exhilarating formula, with moody organ riffs evoking a carnival vibe in the verses and the choruses brimming with campy “ooh woo ohh” background harmonies reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. Making a clean break from such eccentricities, “Testify” is a meandering hard rock groove built around a blues riff that eventually reaches a satisfying crescendo of emotion at the finale.
Carney is without a doubt an exciting and unique addition to the current state of rock and pop. Here’s hoping that Reeves can survive the perils of life as a superhero on Broadway and continue to produce such musical heroics for many years to come.
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More Information
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http://www.myspace.com/carneytheband
http://www.carneyband.com
