This album somehow flew under our radar when it was released a year ago, but because it was such a great discovery, it’s still worthy of a review. Not Quite a Butterfly is the third release by Chicago-based Rainbow Gun Show, a band recently signed to one of the city’s best independent labels, Hozac Records.
Rainbow Gun Show is a five member psych-rock band (with sprinklings of glam and garage rock along the way) that fans of great psych bands past and present will greatly appreciate. Throughout the album’s seven tracks and half hour length, it packs quite a punch and leaves an undeniable impression.
“Cinderella Sizzle” kicks things off right with a catchy fuzzed-out, distorted bass line accompanied by acoustic guitar strumming and hand claps. It is pure ear candy all the way through, even with the chaotic keyboard & guitar jam at the end. “Stacey Song” is even more of a joyous, blissed out affair, and in my opinion, the best track on this release. It’s a whimsical piece of psych-pop. If you don’t find yourself getting the “Stacey is an Angel in my Dreams” chorus stuck in your head after hearing it, you might need to reexamine a few things about yourself.
Breaking away from the psych-rock style, the third track, “Demon U-Wave”, goes for a more synthpop sound and achieves this quite well. Being such a hollow and skeletal sounding track, it shares the same warmth as the rest of the album. The psychedelia returns with “The Strange Age” and doesn’t stop until the gentle lull of the album closer “Feeling Pretty”. This simple sounding track retains a minimalistic drum beat and keyboard melody the whole way through. It’s a stunning track and a great way to close out the album.
Contrary to the final lines of “Feeling Pretty” (“I’m sorry I let you down”), this album is anything but a let down. It’s a fun, breezy listen and a great psych record. It’ll be very exciting to see what these guys will put out in the future on Hozac Records.
86/100 (Highly Recomended)
Track Picks (*)
*1. Cinderella Sizzle
*2. Stacey Song
*3. Demon U-Wave
4. The Strange Age
5. All These Songs For You
6. Ontario
*7. Feeling Pretty
UPCOMING SHOWS
August 12 at Whistler’s in Chicago, IL
Rainbow Gun Show Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | MySpace
Buy Cinderella Sizzle/Demon U-Wave single from Hozac Records HERE
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