Like My Morning Jacket and affiliated supergroup Monsters of Folk, Isle of Rhodes succeeds in combining the musicianship of groove-based jam bands with a folk core that reminds you these guys don’t just know how to play, they’ve got something to say too. For the band’s just-released debut full-length ‘All Rivers and Oceans,’ singer/Rhodes obsessive Rob Farren digs these dreamy statements into some seriously washy reverb treatment, drawing on topographical references to illuminate the thrill of new love in ‘Young Love.’
But his heart really seems to lie in the freedom of life off-shore. From opener ‘Oceans’ (streaming) to the stomping ‘Eyes Like The Sun,’ Farren paints a world of surf and sand where one experience melts into the next, and innocent pleas against change get washed away with the next tide. Wherever Isle of Rhodes take you, it’s usually an elevated place to match the screeching alto Farren has mastered.
Check out their new full-length here and see the band when they play at Don Pedro on June 23rd. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets) – Isle of Rhodes submitted their music for review here.