Monday 23 - Sunfall Festival, The Daily Chronicle
4/13/01

I was watching a short film produced locally when a song came on I thought I recognized. It was easy to listen to, poppy, pleasant. And it could have been by any of a number of artists, including Frente!, The Sundays, Edie Brickell or Sunfall Festival.

But, despite that it wasn't entirely original, it was a good, solid song. That said, Sunfall Festival has a well-written, well-produced, well played, well-sung album with Monday 23. The CD starts out on a high point with two of its best songs. "Someone's Favorite Song" emphasizes singer Amy Greetham's talented vocalsÑthe best thing about the band. A verse doubled up on top of a countermelody shows off Greetham's soothing sound without the distraction of distinguishable lyrics. The song is simpleÑlyrically and musicallyÑconsisting almost entirely of two or three chords, along with the line "We'll stick together because we belong." Very nice string arrangements and clever drums (by Chris Peterson) foil the slow, sparse guitar work.

"I Walked Away" is a classic pop song with a hummable melody. This song won the band a $250,000 recording contract with garageband.com, beating out 20,000 other songs for the prize. It's surprisingly uncomplicated and well-arranged with strings, a drum line that complements the vocals nicely, and minimalist guitar that works in the context. The lyrics throughout the album are nothing to write home about, unfortunately. Too often, meaning is sacrificed for rhyme. For instance, "Anemic," a song which admittedly seems to criticize the character it's about, has lines like "I like to cuddle a lot, / I like to snuggle a lot." And "Nieces and Nephews" is just plain geefish with, "These are the ones IÕve practiced on while I wait for my own to come," accompanied by cheesy harmonies. But the weak lyrics are usually disguised by strong, pleasant melodies and unusually good choruses, like that in "Wah Oh."

The money kicked in to the album by garageband.com is very apparent, as the production is fantasticÑalthough sometimes the album is over-saturated with effects and odd mixing decisions. But Sunfall Festival could, and probably will, easily compete on a national level.

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