The Wonder Revolution: Firefly

wonder revolution, firefly, appleseed castThe Wonder Revolution: Firefly
The Wonder Revolution is an assembly of musicians and artists based out of Wichita, Kansas. Firefly is not only their third album, but their third album released this year. The story so far proclaims that with a myriad of contributors and combinations; The Wonder Revolution can successfully and dynamically pump out piece after piece. Having so quickly released so much music, one has to be skeptical of whether or not this sort of story holds true, if a band can really hold it’s integrity by doing such a thing. Firefly puts this skepticism to rest.

David Lord can be advertised as the genius behind Firefly; having composed each song (and writing songs on previous albums), Mr. Lord has without a doubt figured out how The Wonder Revolution ticks. What’s truly outstanding about Firefly is it’s genuine beauty as a whole. The transition between each song is seamless. The album pulls you in – it’s incredibly easy to just lose yourself while listening to it and because of this particular quality, it goes by awfully quickly. This isn’t to say Firefly is short or lacking, but rather an absolute pleasure to listen to.

Cursed by it’s own quality, Firefly is easy to miss. If one could blink with their ears, they’d lose out on half of the album. There are certain things in this life that are best to enjoy start to finish, with no dissection. In this particular case, it’s Firefly. With exception to a few odd tracks which introduce themselves to you (“Layers of Miracles” and “Cassiopeia”) not a single song takes center stage. There is no point in Firefly that stands as the definitive Firefly moment. Instead, the entire album acts as one. Giving The Wonder Revolution’s newest endeavor a quick listen nets you a feeling of mediocrity. This is quite unfair though. A large portion of tracks on Firefly are short, less than two minutes. The songs that do stick out, really don’t hold up well on their own; without the rest of the album behind them, they’re incredibly awkward and out of place. This would imply that Firefly doesn’t have a single good song on it, right? Wrong; Firefly is meant to be enjoyed as a whole.

What is it that makes Firefly beautiful? Texture, a careful choice in harmony, melodies that are atmospheric and cosmic, and once again that feeling of seamlessness. Pointing to any specific track is difficult, but “Layers of Miracles” stands out. You, the listener, is faced with a slow build of, literally, layers of music. Listening to each piece build up more and more, like a wave and then crashing becoming nothing more than a fade back to the calm from which it came, is a magnificent experience. Throughout the album, Firefly, uses subtle, brief even, songs to help further paint an image, to pursue an auditory haven. The second to last, and longest track, “Invisible Until…” also holds a certain significance. There’s something fierce about it compared to the rest of the album. Maybe it’s the level of percussive involvement, maybe it’s that every prior song had been so gentle. “Invisible Until” isn’t particularly lively by any means, yet exists as a burst of energy in a relatively serene album.

When a band rushes to produce recording after recording, album after album, it becomes worrisome. Can our favorite musicians really create quality with such time constraints placed upon themselves? As Firefly their paradigm, The Wonder Revolution has delivered not once, not twice, but three times. Firefly is something special for sure. The Wonder Revolution describes their music as “wonder music.” To call it anything else would be blasphemy.
Rating: 8.2/10
MP3: The Wonder Revolution “Layers of Miracles”
Buy: iTunes

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