Light Of The Moon Sometimes you discover a band that makes everything else you’ve been listening to seem almost obsolete. I got that exact feeling the first time I heard The EXOHs vibrant single called “Soarin'”, that ended up being my favorite song released all of this year. The band, which is comprised of Chris Canberg & Michael Perdichizzi, is well on their way towards making a name for themselves on this shimmering collection of four songs known as Light of the Moon. Music is intended to make us feel one thing or another, and The EXOHs latest music makes me feel like anything is possible. With a sound that fits somewhere in the same realm as The Fray, Goo Goo Dolls, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, The EXOHs have taken the next dramatic leap in their artistic development on Light of the Moon.
The EP kicks off with the smooth-sounding title track that showcases the band’s growth, as lead vocalist Chris Canberg explains over a brilliant build-up, “Is there a place for me in your world? / Would you answer me if I call? / Cause I would give you an earth / For all that you may deserve / Like your moon, all around you I would hover / Reflect off the ocean / A breeze on the coast / East or west, it doesn’t matter / Here’s my coat before I go off.” Canberg has a knack for the big hook in his vocal delivery, as showcased all over this great record. The guitar solo by Perdichizzi is both meaningful and larger than life in its execution.
”Bends My Blood” follows in the sequencing, and was the second single to be released from the EP. Canberg showcases his love for his hometown of Jersey as he opens with, “Summer sun is blazing this whole town / But it’ll be nothing like this fire off my brow / Sun’s gunna set / But Jersey bends my blood to the East / I want for none that LA smog could give me.” His great and powerful vocal delivery makes you a firm believer in what The EXOHs are doing on this song and EP, and he has no trouble in hitting the songs intended heights.
The moody, synth-laden track of “Reptile” features some thick bass lines and some great, textural instrumentation that slow-builds to a wall-of-sound crescendo that is sure to sound incredible in a live setting. The EXOHs convey a wide range of emotions on songs like this that accentuate the band’s ability to paint with vivid colors in their art. Everything builds up to the band’s best song to date in “Soarin'” that I simply can’t write enough good things to say about it to make you a believer in it. It’s one of those songs that, when you listen to it, it makes your outlook feel so much better regardless of the mood you started in. The pre-chorus to chorus part of, “And if I’m your favorite record / I’m beyond broken / Yeah, I’m soarin’ / I’m dreaming so lucid / If I find my way back home, tonight / Swim every mile to shore / And I’m so sure we go together / Or not at all,” is pure pop rock bliss. The EXOHs wrap up all the best parts of the pop rock genre into a song that is meant to be the soundtrack of starting your day on the right foot.
Light Of The Moon is an impressive leap of faith from The EXOHs that will continue to get better with age, and this record should be able to build their confidence up to a point to make them believers that they’re capable of reaching their lofty dreams for their music reaching more audiences. It’s an EP that will stay in my music rotation for the foreseeable future, and I hope I’m not the only discovering one of my new favorite bands today in The EXOHs.