Rogue Valley – Radiate Dissolve

The post-rock era, the time after the last stirrings of commercially successful grunge faded and nu-metal withered on the vine, has produced only a few bands of likely last note to historians. One of the newer bands, however, poised to join that select company is Rogue Valley, a five piece from the state of Minnesota. The band has racked up plum accomplishments since they first formed in 2009 – appearances alongside and sharing stages with nationally known acts, appearances on television, and coveted spots on motion picture soundtracks. The band’s prior music has been nothing less than an online hit and tallies over eight million plays combined on an assortment of media and music platforms. Their fifth album, radiate dissolve, is a collection of twelve songs that has artistic ambition and a thrilling sense of the gamble. This is a band with an astute sense of when to play to their strengths and when to swing for the fences.

It isn’t clear on first listen, but retrospect shows “The Brightest Stars” opens the album playing to the band’s strengths. It illustrates their easy facility for mixing together a variety of textures without allowing one style to smother the other voices. It’s doubly impressive they routinely pull this off with their songwriting while still blending strong melodies through the mix quite capable of holding the listener’s attention. Second vocalist Linnea Mohn guides the song “Pulse” and gives a vigorous, fully satisfying performance that travels across the gamut of her range while still employing often breathtaking phrasing

“Bury Your Heart” is the first song in what constitutes a tonal shift in the album. The next few songs are all much darker hued than those opening radiate dissolve and Rogue Valley does a good job communicating that ominous intent. This song is a tightly arranged, compact outing that gives Chris Koza a chance to show off a different sort of vocal. “Breathe” has a stronger rock take than any other song on the band’s album. Guitarist Koza and his six string partner Peter Steve are an exceptional team who fill the song with rugged shades of color while never attempting to show off. They take a small gamble with the song “Planet”, but this ultra laid back nod to psychedelic folk has a surprising charm to it that makes it one of the album’s hidden gems. “Vainglory” has some beautiful orchestrated harmony vocals and a gently rolling arrangement that soothes the listener with its lack of stridency. The occasional classical touches imposing themselves on the music have a nicely quirky flair.

There’s no gaping holes on radiate dissolve or head scratching moments. Instead, Rogue Valley’s impressive confidence comes through on every minute of the release and they pursue ambitions they never appear to strain meeting. Songwriter Chris Koza is a rare talent, but the band around him occupies similar rarefied air. The indie music world is too small to confine a band with this potential for much longer, so get in on the ground floor.

Rogue Valley – Radiate Dissolve

Primary URL: http://www.lostinroguevalley.com/

9 out of 10 stars.

I-TUNES: https://itun.es/us/9ESfw

Cyrus Rhodes