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In the three years since Rogue Wave’s last album, frontman Zach Rogue has discovered the synthesizer. This isn’t bad in theory, but in practice the newfound instrument does little to lift Rogue Wave to the next level.
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The Auto-Tuned vocals and cluttered background instrumentation on the title track represents a low point of the album. Luckily, the second half of "Permalight" moves away from electronics and finds Rogue Wave returning to its guitar-based, head-nodding roots.
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The production, songs, and vocals are all perfectly in tune with each other, and the band has crafted a pretty impressive return to form. Permalight is still a far way from the bedroom origins of the group, but it’s also far from being a Coldplay knock-off, and anyone who’s been a fan from the start can certainly appreciate that.
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Although the Oakland, California-based outfit bookends the record with lo-fi charm--the free-spirited “Solitary Gun” and stripped-bare “All That Remains”--Permalight also uncharacteristically departs into euphoric yet contrived electro-pop.
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It’s still not easy to figure out exactly what Mr. Rogue has in mind with choruses like “They’ll lay their boot heel down for a solitary gun.” But the tunes, and the delight of singing them, are anything but unclear.
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The new formula will undoubtedly freak out some folks not used to shaking it like a Polaroid picture, but those willing to give the whole package a chance will be rewarded with a robust disc that deftly balances mindless fun with mindful focus.
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Under The RadarUnpretentious, streamlined and--as Rogue himself proclaimed--overwhelmingly "up up up." [Winter 2010, p.65]