Candle's 1st Album Shows Sharp Talents

Roman Candle

You've heard this one before.

There's all this great music out there that you'll never hear -- a few good albums that will never crack the popular radar, a dozen musical injustices that will never make it to the court of public opinion.

And a lot of music fans don't have the patience to sift through all the listless bins and find the hidden gems.

But Roman Candle is making it easy for you -- the local band's first album is fantastic.

Says Pop is a left-field classic, a masterpiece out of the basement. It's effortlessly catchy and casually cool, thick with studio layers and a private Wall of Sound. It's a homespun OK Computer, steel from song to song. Imagine a younger Wilco, but more pop and less country. The band sounds like youth -- fresh and invigorating.

But just because Roman Candle is young doesn't mean it's naive. The band is thoroughly schooled in rock history, and it shows.

The Matheny brothers are brilliant rock thieves, borrowing from their favorite styles and molding their own. Their sound defies genre -- alt-country pop, singer-songwriter rock. Roman Candle isn't one genre or another -- it's everything in between.

As solid as the dusty electronic production is and as sharp as the guitars, keyboard and drums instrumentation are, it's the songwriting of Says Pop that draws you in. The lyrics have real heart and a charming absurdist wit, and the melodies are ready-made to stick in your head.

"You Don't Belong to This World" has a bright and relentlessly catchy melody that could conquer Top 40. Last-call singalong "I Wish I Was in New York" and the easy-going, lilting tune of "Baby's Got It in the Genes" shine melodically, too.

Opener "Something Left to Say" grabs you from the gate, muffled and distorted like a great song over a faint radio signal. You can't turn the dial -- the rolling tune and fierce drums pull you along. Reverb-filled "Sookie" and "Driving at Morning" hint at an indie rock edge, a droning raucous side.

Softer "Winterlight" and quiet "Merciful Man" balance out the rockers with shimmering pop delicacy. There isn't a song on the album that doesn't fit.

Like the best of records, when Says Pop finishes you want to spin it again. It's entirely to Roman Candle's credit that we want more. Says Pop is a diamond in the rough and is maybe even a little better for not being popular.

There's something privately magical about a great album or a great band that not everyone else knows about. It's a secret -- a reward. If everyone liked it, it wouldn't be as special.

That's the indie ethos. Make it big and you sell out, play to a larger audience and lose your uniqueness. But Roman Candle makes a brand of rock that could, and should, apply to the masses -- and it isn't a bad thing.

The band doesn't sell out or pander to do it -- the songs are just that solid, that universally appealing. The melodies are fresh but familiar, new but known. It takes nothing away from Says Pop to say every rock fan could love it.

Roman Candle and Says Pop are great, and even the most die-hard indie fans would have to agree that it wouldn't be such a bad thing if everyone knew their music. Rock music as a whole would be just a little better and brighter for having Roman Candle.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.