Zelliack - Noir Tone EP
Record Label - Unsigned
Release Date - February 1, 2012
It must have been hard to package so much sexy into five songs, but Elliot Coleman and Zack Ordway are sexy people. Their pedigree hardly hinted at Zelliack’s sound; you can’t hear any Sky Eats Airplane, Of Legends, Killtrox or TesseracT here. The soultastic tunes of Noir Tone are way out of left field, and fans of Foxy Shazam, fun., and anything peculiar and groovy should latch on to this immediately.
Trying to mentally prepare for Coleman’s vocal range is damn near impossible – his highs make Justin Hawkins sound like Scott Stapp. Elliot’s immense combination of power, control, and range is a little absurd at times, and possibly overwhelming for a brief moment; it takes a minute to absorb all the awesome headed your way, especially after a nutty opener like “Autumn In Analog.” What comes out of that man’s mouth is incredible and virtually unmatched by his contemporaries.
Ordway’s funky contributions are just as otherworldly as his counterpart’s, with all kinds of jazz fusion, prog, and R&B rhythms completing the tunes. Each track is musically tasteful and technical, channeling every influence imaginable. Take “Hargrove” for example – the movement would be as comfortable in a swanky lounge as a salsa club. I half-expected K-Pop to make its way into “Without A Doubt” (thankfully, it’s just more of Elliot’s sensational singing). No matter which direction the guys take the song, it always works.
There really isn’t a flaw in the entire release. Noir Tone is fantastic EP full of the most original jingles we’ll hear this year, and you can pay-what-you-want for it on BandCamp. Go surround yourself in sexy.
Perfect EP is perfect. His voice definitely brings Anthony Green to mind in this setting. The whole thing really sounds like a funky Circa Survive.
Blah. I love Anthony Green, but I hate that he's the barometer for success as a vocalist. Elliot sounds nothing like Anthony to me. What in his voice do you hear that sounds like Anthoy?
Blah. I love Anthony Green, but I hate that he's the barometer for success as a vocalist. Elliot sounds nothing like Anthony to me. What in his voice do you hear that sounds like Anthoy?
His intonation is different but he's got a very similar range. When he's pushing his voice he doesn't sound as much like Anthony but in the more relaxed bits it's there. I think Hargrove is where I get it the most, less on the other songs.
There are brief flashes of Circa in the instrumentals, too. They're small and usually they're gone almost before I notice it but it's there.
I was stoked when I heard they were doing a side project but I definitely didn't expect it to be anything like this. Pleasantly surprised though, I dig it.
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