Posted on: August 6, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 1

Oliver Future – Pax Futura / 2007 Fireproof / 12 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/oliverfuture /

Oliver Future have a decent amount of Radiohead influence in their brand of rock. Oliver Future operate with a very interesting approach to rock, linking together Maroon 5 and Modest Mouse with the aforementioned Radiohead to create something that is both impressive for the reviewers and musicians along with the average music fan. “Stranger Than The Stranger” is an early track on “Pax Futura”, and it has arrangements that are thoughtful with a chorus that will stay with listeners well after the track and the disc ends. Having this diverse sound will ensure that Oliver Future will be loved by the widest possible swath of fans.

 The production does not detract from the overall sound of this disc in the slightest, which means that it would be easy for Oliver Future to rocket up the charts just as soon as they are able to find allies in the right places. “Stranger Than The Stranger” is their first single on “Pax Futura”, and it is undoubtedly not the lost that they will create. “Happiness Report” starts out with a synthesizer that subsequently plays through the track. The pensive vocals present during this track brings Oliver Future back to the eighties, and more specifically makes the band sound as if they are trying to re-create the work of The Psychedelic Furs or “The Chocolate War’s” soundtrack. The resulting track has this retro allure but does not find itself without a link to the present. The use of a catchy chorus ensures that individuals will stick with this track for the entirety of its’ runtime. As differently as “Happiness Machine” started in comparison from “Stranger than the Stranger”, the jazz horns present during “Drowning Parade” and the resulting classical dance-like approach to the track exceeds this. The vocals are one of the only things that are common between the two tracks. The vocals achieve a Rufus Wainwright-like sound to them, but the same slow, drawn-out style is present between these tracks.

Oliver Future make a success out of an album that would not likely be successful; eclectic, catchy at points and difficult at others, “Pax Futura” will bounce around my player for a decent time to come. Check them out if you can; the rock style that they play is so different from anything else that individuals have heard that they may just be the progenitors of a whole new movement in rock. See them live and pick up “Pax Futura” and see what I mean.

Top Tracks: What Heart, The Second

Rating: 7.2/10 

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