Buy This Record: The Wee Hours Revue

I came to the band Roman Candle probably four years ago when they visited Louisville and were featured on my beloved WFPK. Their indie album Says Pop was the soundtrack for my life for probably a good year after I first bought it and to this day it still resides firmly in my 10 most frequently played albums list. The record channels and builds on strong influences ranging from Dylan and 60s soul to Van Morrison and U2 to alt-country, garage rock and modern electronica. Ignoring some very minor issues (thanks to being the very first album recorded and released on a very small indie label) Says Pop is in my mind a nearly perfect album. I said as much when I first wrote about the band a couple years ago in a previous incarnation of On a path and encouraged you to seek out Says Pop.

In 2003 or so the band signed to Hollywood Records and I started waiting, patiently, for a full studio release and a tour I could support. I waited and waited and waited. It never happened. In early 2005 the band was tired of waiting as well (since their record had been sitting on Hollywood's shelf) and left the label. They remixed and significantly reworked Says Pop and signed with V2 (home of Moby, the White Stripes, The Raconteurs and Indianapolis favorite Margot & the Nuclear So & So's among many other impressive people) in September 2005.

The reworked Says Pop became The Wee Hours Revue and V2 released it in June 2006. Needless to say I want you to go buy it. Good music supports me so I want to support good music. Roman Candle makes very good music.

Don't trust my opinion? Check out these other rave reviews and then quickly hit your local record store, iTunes or Amazon to get your copy.

Pop Matters gives The Wee Hours Revue an 8 out of 10 and says "It deserves to be heard, and begs to be more than a download" and "you need to hear Roman Candle. Go get The Wee Hours Review: because you can, and because it’s damn good. "

The Nashville Scene says The Wee Hours Revue is "a (belated) triumph"

And the Boston Globe heaps praise.

"Wee Hours" is all over the place stylistically, but in the good, engaging way that Grandaddy or Eels albums can dart from the backyard to the bedroom to the freeway.

This is crystalline, spring-loaded guitar-pop replete with modern, beat-savvy electro touches, vintage harmonicas, and a subtle dose of blue-eyed soul, thanks to the warm flush of Rhodes organ and slide guitar.

Tags: Roman Candle, music