Crayons

All original psychedelic pop written and recorded in Northampton, MA. Strongly influenced by The Zombies, Fountains of Wayne, XTC, Jellyfish, and all other disciples of The Beatle School of Flypaper Pop..... melodic sweep, Leslie guitars, Mellotron kisses, plush harmonies all doing the backstroke in a sonic soup, buoying a bouncing lyrical circus of cynical whimsy...... REVIEWS: THE VALLEY ADVOCATE Just glancing at the band of Valley ringers on Paul Rocha's latest release (Matty Cullen, Brian Marchese, Sam Barnes and Danny Bernini), it's not hard to imagine how and why Crayons is such a vintage-sounding pop-rock gem. The hooks and melodies are top-notch, as are the instrumental parts, deftly arranged string parts, vocal harmonies and production, blending a George Martin Sgt. Pepper-era feel with some droning backwards tracks and latter-day voice effects. Rocha's songwriting is, generally speaking, solid power-pop, but also crams in tasty acid-folk and semitone sensibilities/sitar sounds that present a great exercise in incorporating more typically Eastern style into Western music. Rocha's lyrics stand out as the oddest jigger-pour in his creative cocktail, blending innocence and cynicism into anecdotes that are hard to peg either as true-life stories or pure psychedelic fiction. -Tom Sturm ABSOLUTE POWER POP Paul Rocha describes Crayons as 'British Invasion by a left-handed American' and his take correctly pegs the album as a somewhat quirky, tongue-in-cheek evocation of Beatlesque pop. Rocha's pop is similar to artists like Roger Klug and XTC, and opening track 'Sevens into Nines' gives you a good idea where he's coming from as it segues from sweet pop into a White Album-like guitar freakout into a bombastic pop song. Meanwhile, 'Peaches and Lemon Lime' takes a slight psych turn (love that sitar) in it's straight-ahead power pop, 'Medicine Ride' is McCartneyesque chamber pop, and 'Don't Go in the Water Now' and 'Fairies in the Yorkshire Glen' have that Andy Partridge pastoral feel. Elsewhere, Rocha offers up his twisted yet melodic outlooks on Amelia Earhart, peace signs on the wall, and why nobody names their babies Adolph (or OJ or Lee Harvey) any more. Another excellent pop disc in a year full of them. - Steve Ferra 'Like' Paul Rocha - Musician on Facebook.