It seems like a steady stream of gentle, introspective indie-folk tracks have been coming across my desk lately. I love that warm, fluid, finger-plucked acoustic guitar and the soothing ambiance of it. But Chiliocosm‘s new release Home is not that. Sometimes you just need to splash some crisp, cold water on your face to remember how your skin feels. Home splashes us suddenly and a bit wildly with youthful pop-punk energy and big melodic guitar riffs. It will electrify your pores into full wakefulness.
There’s so much energy in this one, it’s tantalizing. And creative. Whether you consider yourself a fan of the electric guitar or not, you can’t help but respect the musicianship here. Saturated in layers of guitar, the lead electric breaks out and erupts with uninhibited, hard-hitting and unusual melodic riffs. The rapidity and passion of the lines are exhilarating. The percussion work in this one is just right. If the guitars are driven and hard-hitting, the drum kit isn’t left behind. Chiliocosm has finely balanced the instrumentation, a bit of an art in its pop-punk genre, where the big energy of one component can easily overshadow or dominate the others into a mushy, obscured chaos. Chiliocosm keeps it crisp, balanced, and clear, like seeing your own toes under the surface flow of the stream.
The lead vocal work is both melodic and aggressive, without feeling dark. In fact, under the soaking of the aggressive guitars is a reflection on the nature of “home.” The artwork conceptualizing the track is a creative and hand-drawn piece holding in paradox the tensions of those axioms “home is where the heart is” and “no hell like home.” These three Canadian boys (from Calgary, Alberta) have some deep thoughts inspiring their splash-yourself-in-the-face punk rock tuneage.
This promising young Canadian band seems to have all the chemistry, energy, and poetry it needs to keep making great music.
