The Invisible World – Color / Echo

URL: http://welcometotheinvisibleworld.com/

Formed in 2012 from the ashes of an older band named A Dead Giveaway, The Invisible World’s debut EP and latest EP release Color / Echo reach the heights they do thanks in no small part to their clear-eyed artistic vision for the sort of music they want to create. There are no shortcuts here. These are fully formed songs set inside emotionally resonant landscapes and the band imbues their explorations with a remarkably confident sense of risk-taking that never attempts biting off any more than it can chew. The six songs compromising this release range from high octane rockers to bruising, yet memorably delicate, guitar showcases that focus on the players without ever succumbing to self indulgence.

“Color / Echo” begins things with a resounding home run shot. The Invisible World takes aim at making maximum impact with a resounding, yet compact track full of cinematic overtones and a great deal of texture. Tremendous care has been taken with how the song is wrought; there is no guitar overkill or needless solos to mire the track in self-indulgence. It has a grandiose feel without ever laboring too much under pretentiousness. “Bellamy”, in contrast, is a light-footed and speedy affair that wastes no time connecting with the listener while eschewing even the faintest hints of pretension heard in the title track. It’s refreshing to discover a band so capable of shifting emotional gears without it ever failing to seem like a seamless expression of their personality.

“The Way” covers much of the same territory explored in the opener, but with an even heavier hand. The increased intensity never means that this is decidedly less musical; if anything, the increased emphasis on summoning musical firepower seems to serve as a songwriting mandate to make the melodies just as strong. The Invisible World sidestep back into a more accessible mode on “Joliet” but, while the material has a distinctly lighter tone than entries like the title track or “The Way”, the band never sacrifices musical credibility in order to score commercial points. There are few moments on the EP where this assertion is more clearly illustrated than on the song “Brick by Brick”. The ease with which the band retreats from their electrified, alt rock approach into a quiet, melodically strong acoustic thrust that nevertheless fails to abandon their core songwriting virtues. Jesse Collins’ clear, robust voice carries the vocal melody with clear, yet understated authority.

The EP’s final track “Oughta Know” serves up a dose of brash alternative rock attitude to finish the release. The Invisible World never strains for effect and, instead, the six songs on this EP emerge naturally from the band without sounding arbitrary or overly calculated. Their songwriting brings together intelligence, physicality, and artistic sensibilities into one package. Color / Echo is the next logical step in the band’s inevitable march towards greater mainstream success and, undoubtedly, their next move up the ladder with a full length effort is put in place by this second fine EP.

9 out of 10 stars.

I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/color-echo-ep/id1104737554

Bradley Johnson