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Lowell, MA's own Western Education has just released their newest effort titled Let Your Secrets Out. The full length album is a cohesive, expansive effort that takes their sound into a larger, more dense space than ever before where the audience is more open minded and accepting of a change of pace from the other types of music being produced today.
The track opens up with "Peace", an electroriddled opus with some dense rock rhythms and Greg's dynamic vocals allow them to criss-cross between the elctro rock fusion that is upon us and gets us off and running right out of the gate. "I Can't Heal" features more noticable guitar licks that show off the wealth of diversity that this group is able of pulling off at any given time. With pulsating rhythms and the slick guitar work of Georgio and Will contribute to an extremely diverse and worthwhile listen. "Rivals" is my favorite song off the album that is a hard nosed, no frills rocker that has intense, jarring guitar licks that have its own identity, and manages to come together as a complete track with the other instrumenatation to satisfy the best of both worlds and create a multi layered effect that is the highlight of the album. "Look Away" is a pure electronic getaway with the influences of locals Passion Pit clearly evident in their sound, and is a tip of the cap in sorts of the other acts that have gone off to bigger and better things beyond their homeland.
The second half begins with "Lost Art" a downtempo, synth laden affair that takes a decidedly different turn and just lets the hollow effects set the mood and tone for what is a very somber sounding track. "All I Am" gets it in with a rich, layered keyboard effect that Greg inserts intelligently within the mainframe of the surrounding instrumentation and gives off a full featured and polished look that molds the band's image in the process. We begin to wrap up the album with "Young Love" a fast paced, set to 11 rocker that gives fans exactly what they've been clamoring for and sets the tone for the disc's final track, "Loyal Satellite" which channels the aforemntioned electronic influences and melds it together into something truly unique that summarizes all the musical notes we've heard over the course of the album and how it interconnects with one another. I've quickly known to love Western Education after hearing "Rivals" some time ago, and really appreciated their ability to know how to stand out in a crowd and not blend in with the other artists on the scene, something that can be challenging for some acts to accomplish but these guys wear it remakrably well and are starting to make their name known in the local Boston music scene.
In summary, a well executed and rehearsed effort from Western Education, a band that we'll be sure to hear plenty more from in the near future, and one that is starting to find their own voice and place with the other players in the highly touted local scene here in Boston.
Score: 3.5/5
Track Listing:
Peace
I Can't Heal
Geneva
RIvals
Look Away
Ashes and Sea
Lost Art
All I Am
Ideal Situation
Young Love
Loyal Satellite