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Written
by Daniel Boyer, posted by blog admin
With
music to match the EP’s cover (a girl’s face with eyes closed surrounded by the
infinite cosmos), Dallas three-piece Blue Apollo dig into spacey, gracious
textures and serene melodies that collide head-on with rock n’ roll brawn on
their debut, Light-Footed Hours. It’s a delicious difference split of sound
with some pop-vocal hooks, surprisingly complex instrumental threading and
tougher movements that leave behind a memorable impact.
“Walls”
kicks the EP off with Jeremiah Jensen’s big sound that practically throttles
the toms while peppering the mixture with monster cymbal crashes and agile rim
playing. As his performance slips in
more volume and rhythmic trip-outs, Luke Nassar colors in the gray space around
the beat with head swimming melody chords blanketed in low-end warmth thanks to
Rodman Steele’s prominent bass swagger.
The track works up a good head of steam, seemingly getting louder by the
minute, until releasing all of its pent-up energy into a semi-progressive indie
hard rock jam. One moment the
instruments will dip out and allow Nassar’s emotive voice take center stage and
the next the band will lock onto a groove like a homing missile that ultimately
explodes with crashing crescendos of epic soundscaping. Subtle touches of keyboard mimics a clavinet
and is probably the reason that the trio added a fourth member to handle all of
the group’s various auxiliary instruments.
A superlatively rocking and careening lead topped off by a smacking
snare-fill sends the tune hurtling towards a whirling, oscillating and truly
exciting finale.
“Feeling
Right” is all about the groove and Nassar sips his guitar melodies from the
tropics with some flamenco/funk/reggae flourishes that wouldn’t be out of place
on a Sublime record (albeit more subdued than Nowell and company would mess
with). Ragtime piano maintains a lively
atmosphere and the stop/start bass lines also toy with funk as the mix between
straight timekeeping and syncopated jabs sprinkle some
jazz into Jensen’s drumming. Pitching
yet another curveball, “Therapy” repeats its main guitar lick akin to a mantra
and by doing so it becomes permanently ingrained in its audience’s memory. It’s a cool amalgamation between pop punk’s instant
immediacy and indie rock’s mind wandering charms. Luke’s voice carves wonderful verse and
chorus hooks as his guitar trades-off between being a lead instrument and a
backing one. A few craggy, jagged drum
fills and scorching guitar licks give this piece an occasionally aggressive
bite that fluidly transitions into the song’s more sugar sweet ideals.
Album
centerpiece “Avalanche” throws in the kitchen sink and everything else it can
find into a sprawling piece that begins as just picturesque melodic singing and
melancholic piano beauty. Cellos, violin
and a filled-out string section encompass a vast array of influences that
unexpectedly sees the entire band joining in with smashing percussion (heavy on
the crashing symbols), rubber burning guitar peel-outs, soul screaming blues
guitar licks and quaking low-end grooves.
“Meant to Be” is mostly based upon Luke’s stunning lead vocals, his
acoustic guitars and the return of an exotic string section, though it doesn’t
forget to include a rock n’ roll finish for good measure. The EP’s final cut and the band’s most recent
single “Circles” mingles never-ending, kinetic tom-tom rolls, piano majesty and
ringing melodic chords into a penultimate track that couldn’t have been a
better closer; cementing Light-Footed
Hours into a sweeping indie-rock release that pulls out all of the stops
and succeeds at every single turn.
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