Local band goes far and away
Olospo is ready to come into its own. After years of playing around town and around Texas, the band is set to begin its first full-fledged headlining tour.
After recently acquiring a big travel van and releasing a sharply dressed studio album, This is the Pagoda, there’s only one way to go – up.
The guys finished their last jaunt through Texas this past weekend playing CD release parties in Tyler on Wednesday, Dallas on Thursday and Lubbock on Friday.
Olospo will be spending the rest of January and February traveling through and playing in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico.
Many of the tracks on This is the Pagoda have spent lots of time in the farm leagues, being tweaked on the live stage before being forever etched onto CD.
From the introductory instrumentals until the last note of the last track, one can only sit in appreciation of how much the band’s sound has developed over years of intense playing and refinement.
For someone who’s already a fan and has talked to the guys about music and life, the disc has to be a tribute to all the time spent in small, smoke-filled rooms wiggling around.
And for the band, it has to be sweet victory to have its sound captured so completely on disc.
Often studio albums have a hard time matching the power, ebb and flow of a live performance. Something just gets lost in the translation.
Rather than playing the songs dry and adding personality at live shows, Olospo has injected This is the Pagoda with all the raw energy of its explosive club performances.
The band’s sound is difficult to pigeonhole, and therefore, the guys play music shaped by many different influences.
It’s possible to find many varying sounds on the new CD – from 70s-styled tracks full of dirty guitar and deep bass to more chilled-out pieces where the vocals rise about the instrumentation, almost standing alone.
Olospo’s sound could hardly be offensive to any music aficionado or to anyone looking to have a good time
If you’ve seen Olospo live and the guys rocked your pants off, you should grab a copy of This is the Pagoda.
And if you haven’t seen Olospo live, then you should go out and pick up a copy of This is the Pagoda and keep your ears peeled for the guys’ return to Texas – it’s sure to be smokin’.
