A few months ago, the newbies had fallen into the pseudo-Prince, semi-funk genre, but as their new release Soon … proves, they’re serious contenders for the North Texas ska-hop crown. Recorded at First Street Audio, Soon … is for active listeners — the disc changes mood and timbre almost every other track. Guitarist Jason Travis, using one of the Fort Worth studio’s Telecasters, has a smooth tone that’s perfect for his atmospheric undulations. Influenced by just about every type of music and musician, from metal to dance and from drummers to horn players, Travis exhibits his mastery of off-time string maneuvers, allowing him to define all seven songs rather than overpower them.
Travis is accompanied here by several scenesters, most notably Fort Worth singer-songwriter and burgeoning producer Walker Wood, who adds digital quirks to the mix, lending to Pollard’s flights of raw emotion a spacey feel. The two work famously together. The vocals are handled by committee, mainly E.J. Brown and Quincy Miller. Brown has a rap cadence, while Miller tends to preachify, as on “EQ”: “No one is the image they live with / … Take a chance and win.” A guest singer, Yendor Reese, lends her soaring vocals to one of the album’s best and most dynamic songs, “Fighting.” Soon … is quite an achievement. With philosophy, technology, history, skill, and imagination, Get Well shows off its ability to adapt to any number of different styles and moods while maintaining a body-moving groove.
Sat w/Deaf Angel, Undeclared, and Meander at the Aardvark, 2905 W Berry St, FW. 817-926-7814.
