Lovejar is a funky rock ‘n’ roll trio out of Corona, Calif. Their most recent disc is a nine-track album with almost as much soul as it has swagger.
Lovejar performed at a night of music called “The Experiment” at the downtown Long Beach bar, The Cellar, on Sept. 1.
The album, entitled “Are You Listening?” is a mash of many styles and genres, rendered through the mature instrumentation of brothers David and Michael Rodriguez and their drummer, Paroah Merchant.
The first track is a potential single and sing-a-long called “You’re The One.” The song has the driving tempo of bands like The Mooney Suzuki and the sneering girl-loving tone of “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” by Jet.
There are also a couple ballads on the album that sound much bigger and more mature than the young trio appears. David’s soulful vocals and very polished guitar technique shine on songs like “Why Don’t You” and, “Why, Why, Why?”
When his vocals and guitar solos hit just right, David escalates the band to level on par with southwestern power blues band, Los Lonely Boys.
The band also dabbles in Reggae, as it is almost obligated for a Southern California-based band. The song ,”All of This is All I Need” is a light shuffle rhythm much like two-tone bands The English Beat or The Specials, who were famous for popularizing this sound in the late ’80s.
“Were We Paid?” is a song that hearkens to The Pixies and sticks in your head. The simple vocal melody is a welcome comfort in a song filled with waves of subtly changing rhythm and time.
The best things that the album has to offer, however, are the funky and upbeat tracks, “The Way I Feel About You” and “What You Want.” The tight-string work of the Rodriguez broters combined with David’s honest songwriting channel “Tower of Power” from their funk hey-day.
In “What You Want” a lyrical maturity is demonstrated when David says that a man pulls a knife on him and demands his money or his life to which Rodriguez responds, “I got no house, no job, no cars, no beautiful wife and I sure ain’t got no money, so mister, you sure don’t want my life.”
For more information on Lovejar, visit their website at lovejar.net.
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