In the ten track album “Venice” named after skateboarder-swarmed Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California; talented Lyn Saga provides listeners with something palatable and uplifting, but sometimes a bit edgy and surprisingly grown up for her first album. Best described as “Weezer” meets “The Veronicas” sprinkled with something a bit more “Beach-y”, most of Saga’s album is simply power pop at it’s finest. True to it’s genre, the album weaves stories of youth through distorted guitars and angsty hard hitting drums. To anybody that’s been to Venice Beach, the lyrics and atmosphere of the album suggest that Saga picked the perfect title. This album could easily be a sound track for a movie about some cute young adult, like herself, being the girlfriend of one of the pot-smoking and emotionally detached skateboarders that hang out there. The climax is Saga realizing that although she has outgrown the scene she will always remember it fondly, and carry an element of those memories with her wherever she goes. And so on.
The opening track “Venice” was well crafted and quite accurate to the title, illustrating this unique place quite well, her sweet yet dissonant vocals describe her memories. “beach bums waxing down their surfboards…clouds of incense, filling up the atmosphere, free love on the boardwalk and the pier” Saga’s somewhat crude and youthful lyrics make her impression immediately. She has the perfect amount of nostalgic sentimentality for her genre, as the fast approaching chorus melodically slips into the drum beat, “I want to be the person that I used to be, on Venice Beach, when days belonged to you and me” depicting young, irresponsible love in a way we have definitely missed since the 90’s. (Right guys?)
“This Way”, although also good, seemed a bit like filler to me. In a way it appeared to simply be an after thought to the first song, about growing up. When I saw that this was meant to be her hit Single I was surprised. Three quarters through this
track I started wondering if Saga was ever going to let me go back to Venice Beach and be an annoying teenager again, or if she was just going to stay on the phone with her mom, or whoever. Although it may have an element of “teenage confessional” that could appeal to some, it just didn’t do it for me, and I love that stuff! If the first track wasn’t so strong maybe I would have been more impressed.
“Life is but a dream” was more interesting to me musically, although it bothered me that dreams were being mentioned right after being mentioned in “This Way”. However the chorus was more specific and went back to that story-telling vibe that Saga is good at, as well as illustrating the beach once again, she sings “row, row away” in a way that show cases her vocal talents. In this chorus Saga really has that hypnotizing power-pop-girl quality.
The honest, rebellious and youthful edge that Saga first displayed in the first track “Venice”, about Venice Beach and her memories there, thankfully returns in a wave. For instance, in the track “I Didn’t Mean To” Saga nails the tongue-in-cheek and 90’s alternative rock subject matter, and lyrically she pulled it off very well. She goes back to specifics about her youth, partying as well as her relationship, and I started to have the fun that I had when listening to her first song. “I didn’t mean for you to fall so hard, when I pushed you down and broke your heart, I didn’t mean to be out of control, is it even worth it anymore?” Yes, dear, maybe it is worth it! Maybe we are falling for you. Saga becomes really endearing here and just may win over the heart of her listeners at this point of the album. Her whole album is strong, even the tracks that I don’t particularly like, but here is when she starts showing that she’s more than just good at her genre.
The following song is the best song on the album, named “Stay”. Really quite unique, adding an unexpected 50’s edge and croon to the distorted guitars, there is welcomed sounds of snapping fingers and beautiful vocals. Saga’s flirtatious, youthful and light, yet moody chorus is far more single worthy than “This Way”. By this time the listeners aren’t just falling for Saga even though they didn’t mean to, they are asking her to stay!
The following tracks besides “I Believe” were a bit predictable as well, although still really good. She really is very good at her genre, it just becomes frustrating when she does takes it up a notch on a few tracks, and you want more of that twist to what she does. In “I Believe” she shocks listeners when they expected another predictable track–this one provides something dance-y, an element of electronica can be found here when it was simply not expected. Yes, the “dream” lyrics are being beat to death, but Saga does prove herself to not be what she seems, and that she has the potential to do something very interesting with her genre.
Saga really does pull off power pop. I have tried my best to collect my cool factor since the days of “Weezer” and I was bopping along to most of her songs with maybe only one or two scowls at my own reflection. My only frustration was that when she broke out of her box, she really did something very interesting. I feel it made me more critical than I would have been when her music was predictable. I am definitely looking foreword to seeing how this artist progresses.
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For More Information Visit:
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http://www.lynsaga.com
http://www.facebook.com/LynSaga
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lynsaga3
