The Rocket Summer's "Calendar Days" is the debut full-length release from 19 year old singer-songwriter Bryce Avary. Not only did he write all the songs he also performed and produced every track on the release. The songs on "Calendar Days" started coming together when he was only 14 years old and have developed over the past 6 years into this release. With the help of a loan from his dad the album was tracked with Ed Rose at Red House Studios in Kansas in about a month and a half. Thanks to the Militia Group "Calendar Days" will be available everywhere on February 25th.
Lately I've kind of been in a slump with my writing. I just sort of lost the motivation to sit down and write about the music that has been released over the past few months. Not too much has really jumped out to me...until a few weeks ago when I received The Rocket Summer's album in the mail from The Syndicate (a PR company out of New Jersey). Since The Militia Group kicked things off at the end of 2000 I have been interested in seeing what they were releasing. So I admit I may have initially given this release a little more attention than some other release but it wasn't long until I realized that The Rocket Summer is not only the best release from the label to date, but one of the top releases of the past few months.
Great pop songs along the lines of Ben Folds Five, Matthew Sweet and the All-American Rejects, Bryce Avary knows how to craft extremely catchy melodic rock songs. Incorporating guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and piano, the songs come together nicely to present a solid balance of how pop songs should sound. The big difference in his songwriting when compared to many other singer-songwriters of today is the lyrical content. Instead of focusing on the negative and whining about all the girls that dumped him Avary tells tales that are inspiring, positive and fun. Songs that you can tell were written based on many of his own personal experiences and the experiences of those close to him. Even in situations that most folks would only find the negative he finds the positive. There's an innocence with this release that just seems to pull you in.
The Rocket Summer may still have some growing to do. I can't honestly say he's at the level of say Ben Folds Five or Elliott Smith, but then again all of these songs were written and recorded while still only a teenager. He hasn't really gotten out and toured too much and it will be interesting to see how this one-man team will bring these tunes to the public in a live format. But if he can ever come close to matching what's presented on "Calendar Days" true pop fans will be in for a treat. Only time will tell what will become of The Rocket Summer. The best thing all you power-pop kids can do is check out the MP3's that are here and if you like what you hear head on out to your local record store on Feb. 25th and give this kid a shot.
B+
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