Absolutely incredible
From a band influenced by the song writing ability of piano players such as Elton John, Chris Martin, and John Legend comes the second album ‘Devils and Angels’ from quartet Melee.
There is something incredibly exceptional about the songs created by Melee. They are not another bunch of wannabe rockers that try and blast through your eardrums with hard-core electric riffs and intense bass lines. Melee creates a unique style of melodic pop with solid hooks and uplifting melodies, while their style ranges from driving pop-rock anthems to ballads.
Each track on this release is given its own emotional boost of enjoyment, which is a rare quality to input into music nowadays. To start there is ‘She’s Gonna Find Me Here’, a ballad based around front man Chris Cron's piano playing, and which has an emotional sense like Bon Jovi’s ‘Bed of Roses’, ‘Drive Away’ has an electric instrumental, ‘You Got’ is slightly more jazzy, with a Maroon 5 style while ‘You Make My Dreams’ makes me imagine the Monkee’s or a kids musical as it has that dance sense as the bass sinks in.
These tracks wouldn’t be complete with Chris Cron's soaring vocals and the bands backing harmonies. ‘Love Carries On’ has a harmonious church like backing tone while ‘Biggest Mistake’ just makes the harmonies explode to the surface. Cron and Sans have been writing together for a while now and share song-writing responsibilities on this record really creatively and personally. The ballad ‘Can’t Hold On’ is about the death of someone Cron knew, ‘Imitation’ deals with one of Sans' girlfriends finding out her sister was schizophrenic and ‘Rhythm Of Rain’ was written with sorrow and inspired by Hurricane Katrina.
The most amazing track on the album is ‘Frequently Baby (She’s A Teenage Manic)’. This one in particular shines ten times brighter than the other tracks combined. It is so catchy I have been playing it repeatedly since I first heard it and still to this point cannot resist the bouncy beats, subtle harmonies and catchy chorus where singing “She's just a teenage maniac/ Ripped my heart out on the dance floor” makes anyone sing a long. This song is infections and makes the entire album worth a listen.