Neapolitan

band:
album title: Begin
tracklist:

1. Prelude
2. To Claudia On Thursday
3. I Just Want To Be Your Friend
4. 5 A.M.
5. I'm With You
6. The Island
7. Sing To Me
8. It's You
9. Some Sunny Day
10. It Won't Always Be The Same
11. The Know It All
12. Karmic Dream Sequence #1
13. There Is Nothing More To Say
14. Anthem (Begin)
    bonus:
15. Just About The Same
16. Blight

The album opens with a prelude, simply called "Prelude." The first thirty seconds can only be described as "Baroque Trip Hop," if there was ever such a thing. Then the album settles into lazy Sunday afternoon of dreamy Sunshine Pop. The harmonies are some of the best I've heard. When it comes to vocals, I think are good as The 5th Dimension, The Associations and The Hollies. The male singer has a familiar voice. At times he sounds somewhere between Gene Pitney and Graham Nash, favoring the latter. As the album progresses so does the music, it leans more towards Psychedelia. When finally get to Anthem it becomes full-blown psychedelic trip, more experimental than the previous tracks. I can imagine Kevin Barnes finding Anthem an inspiration and road map for songwriting. If he never heard of that song before, and he wasn't influenced it certainly makes for a strange synchronicity.

My favorite moment on the album besides the first thirty second Baroque Trip Hop bliss, is To Claudia On Thursday. In the song (I'm only guessing) they use a cuíca or kweeca which kind sounds like rubbing a wet finger on glass. Just think of Tropicalia by Beck on his album Mutations. When the song is nearly over they play it very unconventionally making it sound just like a dog whimpering for affection. Well at least that's the sound that my Dachshund would make if it wanted to be petted. Another favorite is The Island the guitar strumming reminds me of Julia from the album "The Beatles" aka the White Album." It has fake animal noises and a lovely lap steel guitar. The album is filled with fun. It captures the the 60s "Sunshine" Zeitgeist.

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