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Chad VanGaalen: Soft Airplane [Album Review]

Chad VanGaalen

Written by Fense

For some inane reason, listening to Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen reminds me of Michel Gondry’s follow up to one of my all-time favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. The movie in question is La Science des Rêves, better known here in the states as The Science of Sleep.

Maybe this discovery is not so surprising; much of Soft Airplane can be likened to a dream, from the space-y emotive vocals to the poppy and laid-back electric guitar riffs to the casual swagger in percussion. Drop in VanGaalen’s eclectic songwriting and it all adds up to a pleasant dream sequence.

Songs like “Bones of Man” and “Bare Feet On Wet Griptape” highlight VanGaalen’s awkward vocal stylings while “TMNT Mask” and “Phantom Anthills” (both fantastic tunes and major album high-points, by the way) find the artist throwing in some bizarre electronics.

Overall, it’s a delightful pop album, intricately complicated and oft difficult to comprehend. Listening to Soft Airplane will put you head in the clouds on a sunny day and release the proper endorphins to induce a drowsy, trippy hallucination.

Chad VanGaalen: Willow Tree [mp3]
[audio:0908_chad_vangaalen_-_willow_tree.mp3|titles=Willow Tree|artists=Chad VanGaalen]

Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen

Sub Pop [CD, 2008]

1. Willow Tree
2. Bones Of Man
3. Cries Of The Dead
4. Inside The Molecules
5. Bare Feet On Wet Griptape
6. Phantom Anthills
7. Poisonous Heads
8. TMNT Mask
9. Molten Light
10. Old Man + The Sea
11. City Of Electric Light
12. Rabid Bits Of Time
13. Frozen Energon

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