Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
Related Articles
Forming out of a delicate, melodic ebullience that starts and ends with Paul Rocha’s voice, “The Day That I Fall Down” captures the brilliance that can be found throughout Apophenia at its most fragile. The thoughtfulness of the lyrics finds the perfect companion in a Beatles-inspired groove here, and while not quite the straightforward dirge “Under the Influence” is, Rocha sounds as focused in one song as he does the nine beside it.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Paul-Rocha-Musician-248266148570957/
Apophenia has moments of feeling like a concept album in the sense that every composition it includes holds an emotional counterpoint to another piece in the tracklist, sans all of the theatrics that normally accompany such a release. “Echoes of Never” flirts with long-form personal explorations that are difficult to contain within one song, and yet it doesn’t feel overstuffed with so much poetic content that we’re unable to focus on its sonic qualities as well. It’s inarguable that creative balance is significant in every genre, alternative pop/rock included, but tracks in the style of “Like Lavender Rain” and “Sweet Marianne” make it feel like an indispensable attribute no record can afford to spare in 2021 and beyond.
“Speaking of Ella” has a natural rowdiness that seems to be smothered by the hesitant swing of its rhythm, but the tension this scheme yields makes the song’s disposition necessary. The savageness of Rocha’s vocal assault in the otherwise poppy “The Other Side” and even “Klondike” is telling of his interests in replicating a dignified pop model (or rather lack thereof), and while the manic elements of his performance in Apophenia are mostly toned down for the epic ballad “Sister Silhouette,” they’re revived in seemingly conventional songs like “They’re All Dead,” adorned with affectionately revolting punkisms to boot. Urgency isn’t always created by the beat in this record, but instead the sensibilities Rocha brings into the fold, as the case would be in “Under the Influence.” His is a methodical breed of composing too often overlooked in American indie rock these days, but perhaps with the success of this latest output, he might have a hand in changing that.
There have been more than a few interesting alternative LPs coming out of the woodwork this past spring, but among the summer releases I’ve heard so far, this is probably the most complete and thought-provoking. Paul Rocha is a literate songwriter who already has two intriguing albums in his discography, and with the arrival of this third masterpiece, I think it would be safe to say he’s come full-circle artistically. There’s nothing understated about the gutsy lyrical statements he lays on the line in Apophenia, but at the same time calling him a brash communicator in this LP just doesn’t do what he’s giving us justice.
Rocha serious about everything he’s offering the audience in this tracklist, and through the uncompromising drive he puts forth in songs from “They’re All Dead” to “The Day That I Fall Down,” he’s putting a signature stamp on a new era in alternative rock still illuminating itself to audiences and critics today.
by Bethany Page
