Who? The five former math rockers from Oxford, Mississippi formerly known as Fletcher apparently dipped into Edwin Abbott’s 19th Century social commentary, Flatland, and came away not only with their new, “colourful” moniker, but a revamped sound befitting the British-style “u” therein. Still hinging on frontman Jesse Coppenbarger’s careening vocals, Drew Mellon (bass/sampler), Jimmy Cajoleas (guitar), Sean Kirkpatrick (guitar/vocals/keys), and Len Clark (drums/vocals) have folded their aggro roots under more atmospheric arrangements on the re-release of their eponymous EP.
What’s the Deal? Leading the Clark Kent-like existence of full-time college students by week/rockers by weekend, Colour Revolt got their biggest break when some of their tunes caught the ear of Clay Jones, engineer at the local Sweet Tea studio and mixmaster behind recent Elvis Costello and Modest Mouse offerings. With Jones’post-production polish and deft mixing on the EP, Esperanza Plantation released a first press in December of 2005. Since that mint, the band have been celebrated for their blend of influences from the aforementioned Modest to the Pixies and Radiohead. Those comparisons come easily, but the down-home harmonica intro to “Blood In Your Mouth” announces that the band are going for a sound all their own, and standout track “Mattresses Underwater” ebbs and flows with jangly, interwoven guitars and laid-back drums that build to a crescendo complemented by throaty screams and frenzied riffs.
Fun Fact: Scheduled to lay down the EP’s tracks in a friend’s Jackson, Mississippi basement in late August ’05, Hurricane Katrina was the “mother” of Colour Revolt’s necessity for invention, as they say. After giving up the basement space to evacuees, the band claim that for their initial recording, along with the ProTools rig they devised in the living room of the owner of Esperanza Plantation, they also “used a pair of pantyhose as a windscreen and built a vocal booth out of spare cardboard boxes and leftover brooms.” Somewhere, MacGyver is smiling. BRIANA MOWREY
Now Hear This:
Colour Revolt – “Mattresses Underwater” Download MP3
Talk: Does the band make you want to revolt or rejoice? COMMENT
On the Web:
Colour Revolt at myspace.com
