Pomegranates - "Heaven"

Cincinnati psych-pop band Pomegranates are set to release Heaven, their fourth album and first for new label Modern Outsider Records today.  Co-produced by the band and Miguel Urbitztondo (Sparklehorse, Cracker) and featuring new guitarist Curt Evers (ex-Enlou), the new album sparkles with the same artful dream pop, quirky melodies and reverb-rich guitars that are their calling card but finds the band broadening their sound while sharpening it as well for their best album yet.  

The album opens with the title track, "Heaven" with its propulsive keyboard-filled bridge and Joey Cook's off-kilter tenor.  The infectious first single, "Pass Away" stands out with Issac's impressive new found falsetto vocals, buzzing guitars and a disco-loving shout-along chorus.  The upbeat "Sisters" features a fuzzed-out bass line and a hip-shaking surf-rock rhythm.  "Ezekial" is highlighted by a siren-like guitar line and a reverb-filled atmosphere.  The dreamy piano-led "Something Everybody Wants" is an ode to true love with sweeping synths and sweet vocal melodies.  Another standout, "Letters" features the two vocalists blending their unique voices into one Fleet Foxes-like union set to a bed of guitars both shimmering and crackling with dissonant distortion.  The aptly-titled "Dream" is ambient yet forceful with a bouncy piano riff and more soulful falsetto vocals.  "Night Run" is the album's most dynamic track, as it begins with a hypnotic passage then launches into a noise-fueled bridge before it is brought back to earth with twinkling keyboards; sounding like the musical soundtrack to the short lifespan of a firework.  "Lost Lives" charges forward with a tight, Krautrock-like rhythm until the halfway mark when the bottom falls out, leaving only Joey's vocals and some glimmering guitars to end the song on a wistful, introspective moment that continues on "Surfing The Human Heart", the electronic beat and piano-led album closer.

With four critically acclaimed albums under their belt in almost as many years, the Cincinnati band still just barely flies under the radar but Heaven, with its focused songwriting and engaging melodies, is the album that will should give the band the wide-spread attention that they have earned.


Download "Pass Away" here:  http://www.modernoutsider.com/radio/pomegranates_passaway.mp3


For more info: http://pomegranatesart.tumblr.com/ and  http://modernoutsider.com/