The Rocketboys "20,000 Ghosts" LP

The name will throw you off. The Rocketboys sounds like the name of a neo-swing, 50’s rockabilly group. They have slicked back hair, ride Vespa scooters, and go surfing with their guitars.

Instead, hailing from Austin, Texas, the Rocketboys turn up the sound of Coldplay and write melacholic, piano rock. In fact, the Rocketboys could be doing covers of unrecorded Coldplay songs—the voice, keys, guitars, melodies, and song structures are all pitch perfect. The songs could be covers, but they’re not. Just songs well within a genre called Coldplay.

Of course, this is a good thing. There’s never enough of that Coldplay sound. Plus, if you feel like Coldplay is too big to be cool anymore, now you can join the Rocketboys in the indie scene and still get that piano-driven, quintessential British rock sound.

“We Are a Lighthouse” calls out to those who are scared and lost in the darkness with a hopeful song that breaks through with Gospel-chiming keys. The piano that plaintively leads into “Sights and Sounds” could come from Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois album. The opening groove on “Ice in the Water” wrestles the dark night while wielding an urgent guitar and then yielding a worshipful anthem. That’s the power of the Coldplay sound which can transport you to other places, heights, and depths.

(benmusicspectrum.wordpress.com)

Originally released September 29, 2009