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This is the first release for the band who spent the last year and a half in their practice space with a odd battery of whatever recording gear they could assemble and a computer trying to figure out how to make them work. The album covers everything from noisy pop, with the opening song bombarding the listener with a barrage of trumpets and trombones, to drummachine based arrangements, heavy noisy rock, and a waltz, to the final moments of an 11 minute song ending the record complete with a choir, strings, horns and a harp to finish off the solid structure of sound. Review 1 The Morning News http://www.themorningnews.org/ Chris held up his hand and nodded toward the stereo. 'This, this right here, this sounds exactly like…' 'Like what?' I asked. 'This part sounds exactly like 'When The Levee Breaks.' The drums. The intro sounds exactly like John Bonham's intro.' He was right, of course. It was 'Dreams Burn Down' by Ride, and even the first time I heard the song I thought, 'Well this sounds exactly like 'When The Levee Breaks' by Led Zeppelin.' But it didn't stop either one of us from listening to that Ride song pretty much every day. And with both of us completely loving that appropriated drum intro all summer. With that in mind, I can comfortably say that Halley sounds like Mercury Rev and Spiritualized: and equal parts of both. That's just aesthetically, however, since a lot of the territory Halley cover here hasn't been approached by either of those bands that everyone will say Forget The Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us sounds like. This debut effort from the Austin band is epic psychedelia in its purest vein, with sometimes brooding, and often wholly charged melodies. A range of moods – poppy, lazy, funerary, to name a few – bubbles up through the thick wash of instrumentation and distortion: vocals, guitar, percussion, strings, horns, and just about anything else they can set their hands on. When Halley become surer of themselves, when they trust their instincts enough to emerge from the shadow of their influences, they will truly be a musical force to be reckoned with. Until then, they've only put out a brilliant album. And that's more than most bands or their influences ever do. -Andrew Womack Review 2 The Austin Chronicle http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2002-08-09/music_phases.html 4 Stars Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us (Hooked on Sonics!) The latest bright hope to come streaking out of the Austin sky, Halley has put together a remarkable debut for Hooked on Sonics!, a local multimedia company also responsible for the sharp design of the album artwork and music videos. Opener "Adventures of George (Record Player Pt. 1)" is a bona fide attention-grabber, with its subdued groove that bursts into a strobe-light frenzy as a bombastic barrage of horns kicks in. Spoken-word samples and other strange sounds cut in and out of the mix as the infectious brass arrangement carries it to its conclusion. Then "Heart Attack on a One-Way Street" comes forward with a sugary sonic spazz-out. The frazzled stop-start attack and vocal mannerisms recall Mercury Rev's classic debut Yerself Is Steam in all its chaotic glory. This might be a damnation if Halley's cut didn't conjure up every bit of the overdriven psychocandied fun missing from the Rev repertoire of late. Then Halley drops some subtlety on us. "Movie Song -- Trailer Theme," a construction of laptop beats and piano, soars on the back of distorted whale-song screeches. Mellow moments that sound a bit too much like MercRev's Deserter's Songs are quickly redeemed by "As Cheap as Fake," on which a funereal vibe gives way to an angelic chorus and what sounds like harp strings. The grandiose 12-minute finale, "Kites Are Slow Downers," exudes a Sigur Ròs-like grandeur, with woozy vocals submerged beneath atmospheric layers that peel away in a voluminous landslide. A marvelous ending to a sparkling first outing. - Michael Chamy Check out the artist's website: http://www.likethecomet.com Track List: 1. Adventures of Georgie and the Robbers (record Player Pt 1) 2. Heart Attack On a One Way Street 3. Movie Song - Trailer Theme 4. Peninsula Pomegranate Pendegrass 5. Redlightgreenlight 6. As Cheap As Fake 7. Ellipses 8. Herkimer Battle Jetne (record Player Pt 2) 9. Living From a Heart Palpatation 10. The Last Word Is a Silent Vowel 11. Movie Song - Love Theme 12. Kites Are Slow Downers Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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