Album Review – Rogue Wave

Music — By Andrew Evans on 13/03/10

Californian five-piece Rogue Wave haven’t had the easiest of rides over the course of their eight year existence. Whilst touring their second album Descended Like Vultures in 2006 drummer Pat Spurgeon was diagnosed with kidney failure, for which he had to receive regular dialysis whilst on the road. Then, in December 2007 former bass player Evan Farrell died in an apartment fire. After touring their third album Asleep At Heaven’s Gate – an album on which the strains put on the band hung heavy – just as you felt the band deserved a slice of good fortune, singer Zach Rogue slipped two discs in his neck, leaving him bedbound for three months.

Upon recovery, as a reaction to lying near-stationary for almost 90 days Rogue started writing songs that were altogether more physical, songs “which you could move your body to.” It is these songs that make up the band’s fourth album, Permalight.

When casting an ear over Permalight, over and above the programmed drums, crunching guitars and Rogue’s thick Californian twang is a sound of a band throwing off the shackles and most importantly, and indeed quite deliberately, having fun. Where the reflective Asleep at Heaven’s Gate stumbled at its emotional hurdles, Permalight see’s the band smashing right through them.

Pop-rocker Solitary Gun comes leaping from the traps with a welcome playfulness we have yet to see from the group, whilst the robot-rock of first single Good Morning (The Future) sets the agenda with its electronic disco drums and synth-swathed pop chorus. Elsewhere, the funk pomp of the title track brings to mind Let’s Dance era Bowie, with Rogue crooning “Reborn! From life to death we are reborn!” with the self-assurance of a man who knows his band are exactly that.

That’s not to say that Permalight never lets it sun-bleached hair down with a few proper rockers. Stars and Stripes provides an immediate highlight with its crunching guitar and a chorus so catchy you will need hired help if you ever wish to rid it from your head, which you probably wont. Try to make your way through We Will Make a Song Destroy without spontaneously breaking into dance. You shan’t manage it. No-one could.

Fear Itself sees the band on more familiar territory. Delicate guitar work, building drums and Rogue’s ever listenable voice create a soft-rock epic complete with a magnificent, meandering melody. It’s probably the nearest they get here to returning to their earlier sound. That it is followed immediately by the one-two punch of Right With You – which is all beefy drums from Spurgeon and features a number of cheeky “Whooo’s!” from Rogue – and We Will Make a Song Destroy gives the impression that the group don’t want you lingering on past glories.

Taking into consideration all that has come before it Permalight is a beautifully joyous record, and one that interestingly both sounds familiar upon first listen and reveals itself even further over the course of repeated plays. There has always been a lot to like about Rogue Wave, however now there is something to truly love.

8/10

Buy Permalight here.

Stars and Stripes (Clip)

Fear Itself (Clip)

We Will Make a Song Destroy (Clip)