VIDEO SOUND - The Waking Eyes 4/5 stars
Mike Bell - Calgary Sun
Specialization — that’s where the money is.
Ask any doctor or lawyer and, after they make sure your credit card has been accepted, they’d be more than happy to tell you that narrowing your field of focus is where the big bucks is.
Winnipeg’s The Waking Eyes obviously got that advice before entering the studio to record their major-label debut Video Sound.
Right from the opening notes of Video Sound — and even the vocals, which sound like the effect a carton of Players and a bottle of Jack can have on a suburban middle-class upbringing — The Waking Eyes make it be known they’ve zoned in on a more specific period, a more specific sound for a ’70s garage rock record.
There’s still some change-ups, but so many fewer and so less unexpected than before.
And normally you’d be able to dismiss that as the corp.-sponsored snatch at acceptance that it is.
Normally, that is, if The Eyes weren’t so damn good at it.
Video Sound is still a blisteringly catchy slice of cheeky, amplified retro r ‘n’ r.
They find a melody and fuzz it up and punch it out, without losing any of its life or likabilty.
It’s a solid outing with a handful of excellent songs — most notably On A Train, with its slight Wings feel, and Waiting, which is as freshly a familiar song you’ll likely ever hear — that should find The Waking Eyes the wider audience it seeks.
Specialization, in this case, only broadens their appeal.
