Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere In The Between (Review: Matt)

It was a miserable day in Reading when this band first caught my attention. I was busy eating lunch to the awful (and soon to be nonexistent) sound of Funeral for a Friend, when the skies opened and led me to run for cover. After spending about 10 minutes watching the rain, it was decided that this was a good opportunity to go and see a band we had not heard much about, but mainly for the purpose of taking cover. What I saw was amazing.

So with this in mind I had high expectations of this album, the most recent effort by the New Jersey outfit, and I was not to be disappointed. It would be fair to say that I’m not the most practised listener of Ska music, and prior to the addition of this album the only ska that I had experienced was Madness, but from what I can tell, this album must be a very good attempt at it.

I am, first and foremost, impressed by its originality. I’m unsure if this is due to my naivety on the genre, or if what the band has created is a unique sound, but either way I like it. Tomas Kalnoky’s vocals are delivered with passion, and his sound demands attention, but with so much else going on behind the vocals it’s hard to give him your undivided attention. With two wind instruments, two brass instruments, percussion, guitar and six vocalists, the sound Streetlight create is highly layered. For this reason alone the album requires multiple listens, and since ‘obtaining’ the album just 48 hours ago I have listened to it four times, which must be a record breaker for me.

With regret, there’s not really a lot more I can say. I was completely blown away by a truly stunning album, but with nothing to really compare it to there’s not much more I can comment on. I will go back and listen to the previous releases of Streetlight Manifesto, and probably spend a long time – its due “before the end of this decade” – looking forward to 99 Songs Of Revolution.

Thanks to Alex for introducing me to the absolutely brilliant sound of Streetlight Manifesto.

95% (likely to be improved once I have something to compare it to.)