Falling Up

Item: Dawn Escapes
Author: Sarah Verno

Dawn Escapes

(2005)

Reviewed by Sarah Verno

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Spotify

Label BEC RecordingsThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

alternative rock progressive rock

"I got chills, they're multiplying and I'm losing control cause the power [they're] supplying... It's electrifying!" As irrelevant as quoting lyrics from the Grease soundtrack may seem, the lines are surprisingly perfect for describing the impact of Falling Up's new album, Dawn Escapes. It has been a year and a half since Falling Up released their first record and the highly-anticipated second album was well-worth the wait. With a maturing sound and impressive lyrical quality, Falling Up is taking progressive rock to a whole new and exciting level.

In Dawn Escapes, Falling Up stretches their creativity by combining rock, techno beats and piano to create cascading sounds full of intensity and passion, and they execute it well -- very well. Though adding piano to rock seems to be the trendy thing to do lately, Falling Up's passion and musical talent take the somewhat expected step for a rock band in a different and more powerful direction. Falling Up has created a perfect harmony of the natural sounds of piano with the electrifying sounds of techno-driven rock anthems without discarding their own style, and it sounds phenomenal.

Lyrically speaking, it's obvious that Falling Up is delving deep without hesitation. Songs like "Meridians" and "Flights" are profound and rather poetic, giving depth to the catchy tunes. As for the vocals of the lead singer, Jessy Ribordy, they're as unique and powerful as ever. Like heated popcorn kernels, Jessy's vocals are full of life and exploding with energy from the beginning to end and add a burst of extra excitement to the music.

What's great about Dawn Escapes is that even though Falling Up chose "Exit Calypsan (Only in My Dreams)" and "Moonlit" to be their singles driving the album, there are so many other quality, radio-friendly songs that you can pop the CD in and listen to it without feeling an unbearable need to skip to the radio hits.

Dawn Escapes is the most logical and beneficial step for Falling Up -- it successfully exemplifies their musical maturity and capabilities as artists and is an exciting piece for fans and non-fans alike. If Falling Up keeps heading in this direction, there's no saying what these guys can accomplish; but one thing's for sure, they haven't missed a beat.

4.5 tocks