Colour Revolt Bing Color to New Album

Colour Revolt, alternative rock band from Oxford, Miss., has returned two years after its debut album “Plunder, Beg and Curse,” with new band members and a new record label on their sophomore album “The Cradle.”

In 2008 Colour Revolt was signed with the local Oxford indie label Fat Possum Records. When its debut album, despite receiving positive critical reviews, failed to impress in record sales, the band encountered a few problems. It was dropped from its indie label, followed by two of the founding members Len Clark, drummer, and Patrick Addison, bassist, leaving the band.

Jesse Coppenbarger, lead vocals and guitar, and Sean Kirkpartick, lead guitar, joined forces with Daniel Davinson, previous drummer for Norma Jean. Hank Sullivant, MGMT producer, joined the band on bass and production, along with Brooks Tipton on the keyboards to create the band’s second album.

The album opens with “8 years,” an angry rock song written the day Clark and Addison left the band. Coppenbarger recounts the times the band shared before splitting, with lines such as “Fathers driving us on our first tour, cuz we can’t drive.” The track, although about the band with its previous members, shows them opening the album with a more mature and full sound than they ever reached on their debut album.
The second track on the album, “Our Names,” is the first single and showcases the ability of Coppenbarger starting with a soft layering of vocals, slowly building up to a howling vocal full of angst.

The seventh track, “Each works,” is a personal favorite of mine. It opens with a guitar riff that could be heard on a Pink Floyd track. Coppenbarger still has his Southern grunge sound, but there were moments on this track where they closely resembled Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure.

The next track, “Mona Lisa,” finds the band jumping back into an upbeat rocker. This track could make an excellent single and be a key track to gain the band airtime on mainstream radio.

“She Don’t Talk” is the signature track of the album. It finds the band combining beautiful vocals with extremely strong music.

The album is strong, in a slew of mediocre album releases this year, and finds the band moving in a stronger, more mature direction. As much as I enjoyed the album, it still felt like a band searching for its sound rather than a sophomore album.
Nonetheless, I look forward to what Colour Revolt has to bring in future releases.