Pop-rock band Cartel embraces a vast array of life’s colorful misadventures and cracks in the pavement on its debut full-length album, “Chroma.”
Immediately when the album begins, no time is wasted in revealing exactly who Cartel is, and a solid pop/indie-rock sound is quickly established. With an energy and style reminiscent of genre pioneers like Jimmy Eat World and Third Eye Blind, Atlanta based-Cartel creates songs that cleverly revamp a nostalgic sound while adding new and interesting twists to the formula.
Songs are, for the most part, built around amazingly captivating rock ‘n’ roll guitar riffs, which provide a perfect backdrop for the soaring and incredibly gifted vocals of singer William Pugh. While most of “Chroma” is focused around a straight-ahead rock song structure, Cartel maintains the rare ability to strip down its sound in order to let a more intimate air take hold.
At first listen, the catchy songs are one the album’s strongest selling points. However, this actually seems to defeat a great deal of the music’s power and significance. The simple fact that “Chroma” can be unbelievably memorable dually carries the notion that, because these songs are so straight forward, it is impossible for them to have any depth. However, while the songs are unapologetically clear-cut and honest, the further into the release you get, it becomes obvious that this isn’t the intention behind Cartel’s music at all.
In the present music scene, things can often become too complicated for their own good, but what Cartel has set out to do with this debut is to simply have fun. That’s not to say that there isn’t an aura of intensity on songs like “The Minstrel’s Prayer” or that anything on “Chroma” is even close to uninspired.
Instead, though, the band is able to achiev e all of these things through an attitude that says, just because its music has purpose and depth, doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun. By using this carefree approach to presenting its music while keeping a white-knuckle hold on its songs’ freedom to express meaningful emotion, Cartel maintains its musical integrity without alienating its own creativity in the process.
Cartel successfully establishes itself as a real force to be reckoned with in the often tired and over-done present scene of pop rock. Subjects and structure vary all throughout the spectrum of “Chroma,” allowing for fun, catchy songs that have the rare ability to still maintain a certain depth and unique character.
