Color Palette

Digging For Days Reviews...

Vaporwave by Color Palette

Artists tend to go through phases of inspiration. Picasso went through his blue period. Taylor Swift is currently going through her pop phase. And for some reason there was that whole "Let's go country!" phase. (I'm looking at you Aaron Lewis, Jessica Simpson, Jewel, Cyndi Lauper...) Color Palette seems to be inspired by mid-80s New Wave as evidenced by their first full length album. 

Vaporwave kicks off with a one-two punch of their most accessible and inherently catchy songs "Seventeen" and "Heartless" with the former setting the tone both musically and lyrically. Lead singer Jay Nemeyer laments about the foolish nature of young love and being able to look back with the benefit of much needed perspective singing that he "told her [he] loved her, didn't know what love was." If "Seventeen" was Nemeyer's mea culpa then "Heartless" is his middle finger to a love that may have never even been reciprocated. 

Much of Vaporwave relies on the synths to provide the memorable hooks that keeps listeners coming back.  Often moody and melodic, Color Palette does tend to paint with very few, well, colors. Songs seem to blend together towards the middle of the album without much to differentiate them. "Rain" and "Desert Sun" are among the stand-out tracks with their propulsive percussion melding with tight harmonies. Color Palette provide a modern New Wave aesthetic and only hint at what else they have up their sleeves on the epic album closer "Come Back Home." A solid debut from a band that has all sorts of colors to paint with, if only they would. B