An impressive debut from OneRepublic

The Americans OneRepublic seem to name their albums in a way associated with sleeping and dreaming. After having enough dream visions on their first record, Dreaming Out Loud, they decided to leave the sleep domain, which is announced by their sophomore effort, Waking Up. This awakening should have been a much-anticipated event. OneRepublic’s debut might be a perfect example for all beginning artists to study and follow. That record was so good that many would demand an instant continuation. Naturally, this is impossible in the world of music. Usually, two or three years pass by before a group or a singer releases the next album; and OneRepublic are not an exception. What they needed to have success again was simply following the formula of the first release. This was rock-music with all its energy and emotionality, yet with pop-oriented choruses, unsophisticated and catchy tunes to draw the love of the crowds. The band’s leader, Ryan Teddler, who functions in this project are too many to be enumerated here, never thought of radical changes. That is why if you already like OneRepublic, their new album will certainly leave you happy.

A secret of success

You can get a good idea of what the second studio work by OneRepublic is like with the help of the single All The Right Moves, released shortly before the arrival of the album itself. It is track number two on the long player and therefore sets the mood for the whole release of the Americans. Quite unexpectedly, this song is followed by a ballad called Secrets, a composition seemingly misplaced because after this number you will again drown into the waves of drive supplied by Everybody Loves Me. Here Ryan sings in a manner slightly different from what we are used to, but he does it so nicely that it you would miss it listening to the first album. Speaking about the instrumental part, you will notice that keys and guitars are constantly exchanging leading roles here. For instance, a heavy guitar episode in Missing Persons 1 & 2 is what makes the song a pleasure, while All This Time, and Fear win hearts by fascinating piano passages. Lullaby, a sweet calm track with beautiful vocals is a wonderful song to close this album. Generally speaking, this is a music piece lasting a bit longer than forty five minutes that embraces you with good emotions, infectious melodies and well-considered arrangements. The bottom line is that this is what we did expect from OneRepublic.

This just the beginning

Although there is an abundance of genre-based classifications and detailed definitions of music styles, it would be a mistake to try to give an existent name to what OneRepublic create. This young ambitious ensemble is still in the process of searching for their own sounding, their own music format. At the present moment, these guys have two solid albums whose material is aimed at a very large audience. Staying away from terminology, we can say that this is an alloy of pop- and rock-music that is molded into beautiful and top quality songs. Even if you a fan of a completely different type of music, you will still be captured by some pieces of this material, that will beg to stay in you mind, that strive to invade your imagination and remain in your head for a while. After all, we like to listen what is pleasant for us to listen to while genres and styles are of much lesser importance. Definitely, the new product from OneRepublic, the Waking Up album, is pleasant to listen to. Remembering all those bands that started impressively, but quickly vanished, we can only wish that OneRepublic continue releasing same marvelous records.

Alex Bartholomew

20.11.2009

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