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The Redwalls

De Nova

Label: Capitol Records Release Date: 04/07/2005

dionisio by Rob Webb August 22nd, 2005

In Portuguese, the title of this Illinois quartet's second album means 'of new' but there's nothing here that fits that description. From Dylan to The 'Stones and Bowie to The Beatles, The Redwalls have pilfered unashamedly. No wonder Oasis picked them as tour support for their recent nationwide jaunt.

But where the Gallagher brothers inject a bit of bluster into their take on the 60s, The Redwalls' sound fails to hold the attention. Opener 'Robinson Crusoe' borrows a riff from Bowie's 'Heroes',teams it with a nasal whine and falls flat on its face because the end result sounds more like Jet than Ziggy.

Unfortunately, that sets the tone for the rest of the LP. The slower numbers ('Hung Up On The Way I'm Feeling' and 'How The Story Goes') will grate with anybody who possesses a pulse and a pair of ears and its only when The Redwalls play with a sense of abandon on songs like 'On My Way' and 'It's Alright' that things start to pick up (probably because it's harder to hear Logan Baren's vocals).

With couplets like "the world keeps turning around / it's bringing me down" and "it's all up and down with the weather / we was glad to hear you're feeling so much better", you see can why they might feel the need to crank up the volume.

But even those two songs fail to hide The Redwalls' basic limitations. They may have a more-than-half-decent set of influences but they seemingly lack the imagination to make the music their own.

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