Sunfall Festival Gets It Right on 'Monday 23' - Salt Lake Tribune
4/20/01

BY DAN NAILEN

The sound quality on Sunfall Festival's new album, "Monday 23," is so good one might think the Provo quartet already dipped into the $250,000 recording contract it won from Garageband.com in January. Nope. "Monday 23" sounds great because the band knows what it wants and spent three years getting it right on these 13 layered, dreamy originals, including "I Walked Away," the song that beat out 20,000 other entries in Garageband.com's contest.

"I Walked Away" is only one highlight on this thoroughly enjoyable effort. The sound is essentially light guitar pop, but the tasteful use of strings and some electronic bells and whistles nicely accent the songs, when they could have been a distraction.

Sunfall Festival manages a diversity within its style that many bands never attain, adding subtle flourishes and colors to the music where other bands drone on in circles. Singer Amy Greetham's voice is pleasing and pliable; she can virtually whisper, as she does opening "Someone's Favorite Song," or unleash a less-mannered wail on songs like "Devastation," and both styles come across as perfectly natural. And her lyrics avoid cliche while tackling age-old thematic turf like relationships -- no easy feat.

Guitarist Scott Wiley, drummer Chris Peterson and bassist George Brunt have pop hooks to spare from the sound of "Monday 23." Wiley's shimmering guitar makes "What It Feels Like" a song that moves from spare-sounding to full-on power-chord rock and back again in quick, entertaining fashion. Wiley's playing is the group's ace in the hole. Listen to "Anemic" on headphones and you'll get the picture.

At times, Sunfall Festival can sound a little too much like female-led guitar-poppers of the past (Sundays and Frente!, where are you now?), but the songs on "Monday 23" show a band pointed in the right direction.

Solid musicians fronted by a radio-friendly voice has never been a bad combination, and the group's willingness to dabble in unexpected sounds will only serve Sunfall Festival well.

On Monday Sunfall Festival's "Monday 23" will be available at select Utah record stores and at www.sunfallfestival.com on Monday.

Media Coverage

Back to Media Reviews Main