IVORY TOWER by INSIDE YELL

Original art by Rory Gallagher, 2015

'Ivory Tower' by Inside Yell

1. Ivory Tower
2. Wet Walk
3. Coming Around
4. Deep End
5. I Seek Chemicals
6. Feeling
7. New Wave
8.  Roulette
9. Strange
10. Real Girl
11. Not Lost

                From start to finish, this album contains the unmistakably unique glory the Richmond chill pop scene manifested as a modest cohesion of conscious melodies and perhaps unconscious nostalgia for older forms of stylistic expression.  All the songs are solid with stand out tracks like 'Wet Walk', 'Deep End', and 'Strange' which all feature Madeline McCormack on drums.  Obviously crafted delicately, these songs give off the overall impression of a brilliant culmination of humble yet harnessed musicianship coupled with well-played sonic sweetness which drips over slowly and sticks in the heart just like honey.  With this album, it's hard to listen to all of it just once and each cut begs to be heard again and again.               

              It's a blissful synthesis of lo-fi aesthetics mixed with sincere shoe gaze and polished surf rock and roll foundations.  Rory Gallagher makes it pop in the best way.  You can almost hear the potential influences such as: My Bloody Valentine, Asobi Seksu, Grizzly Bear, Caribou, Mac DeMarco, Dungen, Wild Nothing, Teen Body as well as the surrounding RVA locals/contributing soundscape developers:  Teenage Mysticism, Headless Mantis, The Satellite Syndicate, Sweater Boyz, Sherman Whips, The Portal Boyz, etc.

           Written by:  Alroy Mellor

Rory Gallagher

9 stars out of 10

Echo Options - Review - 2015