Saturday, July 19, 2008

Album Review: Sim Redmond Band's Room in These Skies

Whenever I hear the Sim Redmond Band—regardless of the season—it makes me feel like it’s summertime. I think it’s something about the beautiful harmonies between Sim Redmond, Jen Middaugh, and Nate Silas Richardson. With this in mind, I guess it’s fitting that the band kicks of it latest CD, Room in These Skies, with a song about the venerable summer pastime of Bocce. Some folks might be confused about the song’s subject, though, as it’s called “Roll a Few.”

One of the things I really dig about the Sim Redmond Band is that while they pull together a wide range of influences—roots, afro-Caribbean, and reggae to name a few—they never sound derivative. They have wholly incorporated their influences and this is no easy task.

On Room in These Skies the band recorded differently than they have before, recording the album in a church and playing the backing tracks live. They added the vocals later. This approach really creates a warmth to the CD that’s just beautiful. In addition, some of the song-writing duties were shared this time around with Jen Middaugh contributing a song for the first time, “Come and Gone.” And, man, it’s a lovely tune. This new approach to recording and the expanded songwriting duties have made Room in These Skies a standout album in the Sim Redmond Band’s already very strong catalog.

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