Customer Reviews

Johari Window

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Johari Window is the first full-length album from the New Jersey band Carlon. Recorded in an old warehouse, the album is immersed in the historied energies of the American emotional landscape, and draws together elements of rock, country, indie, folk and blues to create a uniquely expressive modern sound. Beautifully layered harmonies lend subtle sophistication to this collection of infectiously lyrical songs, and the album exhibits the band's range and agility without ever straying from their impeccable sense of compositional craft. Intelligent and soulful, Carlon rocks from head to heels.

In a few spots the production seems slanted by a little too much reverb, but this tends to complement the style rather than diminish it, perhaps echoing the ambience of the band's cavernous warehouse haunt. The album takes its name from a psychological tool used to help people better understand interpersonal relationships, and its clear that the quartet has learned to communicate closely and cultivate a kind of musical symbiosis. One of my favorite albums of 2008, Johari Window is the brilliant debut from a band with an oddly unassuming name.

I downloaded the free and song then bought one other song from the Johari Window CD. Their music cannot be put in any one genre. Suffice it to say that they inspire attention. Music like this grows on you the more you listen. Pop it is not. Creative it is.

Listen to this record, front to back. Then listen again. You will not get the songs out of your head.

The entire album is good to great from start to finish. Elements of rock to a lighter side of that to perhaps even country lay within the music. Mostly alternative styled rock with solid sung vocals from co-lead vocalists Michael McWilliams and Ryan McGlynn. It sort of has a Raconteur vibe to me but perhaps i'm hearing something.(or maybe Brendan Benson?)Absolutely worth grabbing!