New year, new Sparrohs album! These guys just don’t take breaks. So much music to share. So much energy. Can’t wait to talk with all of them again. Soon.
Seven albums behind them already and now the eighth is unleashed unto the world. Welcome Chariot! Finished in the fall of 2021, but being released in the new year – 2022. If you thought this band was tired from creating so much music since their inception in 2012, well you thought wrong. Their albums are only getting better and more varied in content, subject matter and sound.
Welcome to The Chariot!
And so, it begins…with the song, “Chariot”. A 4:27 minute song that will lift you from your chair or mood of doubt or slog during this slow time following the winter holidays. “Fire up the chariot, and take me to the sun!” Well, alright! Brian Phillips and Olive Brooke duet singing, “I’ve got the wind beneath my wings and I’m moving towards my paradise”. Then, “I’m looking down on where I’ve been and I tell you now I love this life!” Yes they do. While all around the news is bleak, this band is singing, “Take me to the mountain…of liberty!” Yes, just what we need in a global pandemic, which just won’t let go, and go away…forever. “I hear you calling me”. “Like a bird I want to fly. I want to live. I want to breath!” Off to a great start. Maybe their best song yet. Excellent! Yes, “Take me to the mountain, where I feel like I’m invincible!” Let’s go!
“Video Game”, is a protest song to the way life seems to be during this global pandemic. We seem to be under the control of things beyond our control. But Olive Brooke is not going to be held back by the feeling.
“DNA”, opens with cool guitar chord progression. Then, Olive Brooke discusses how a “crazy girl”, handles today’s dating scene. Very cool, to hear what “the game” is like from the ‘other side’. Cool synthesizers support this interesting song.
“The Silence”, is another song about trying to find the right connection/match in life to carry you through time. “Breaking away from a fantasy”. Searching for that right person, that will bring silence to the search.
Brian Phillips opens the song singing about the sad story of “Aleppo”, from the perspective of a child from Syria; where war is a constant reality. It is a deep and wonderful song and probably the best song on the album. This or the title track, so far.
Olive Brooke opens with, “The storybook is open. What does it say…about me?”, on the track, “Oasis”. A great song about the terror of war in the desert. “Can we love again. Is there any water in this desert?” She and we, all need to find “an oasis”, from the pain and struggle of this pandemic and the division and wars around the world.
“Little Bird”, is the story of how the band came up with their name. It is a wonderful story of having faith in the future and what you believe and want to do with your life. “Pick up your wings and fly”. “You’re not the only bird in the sky. “But you’re the only one who does it just like you”. “Just be you”. Perfect.
“Getting Up Again”, is a positive song about starting over, no matter what may have happened in the past. Get up again and start over. Never surrender to defeat.
“Once in a Lifetime”, is a wonderful, but sad song of reaching the end, and being prepared for it. Olive sings the delicate lyrics about being on the emergency room bed, and looking up, while all of the vital lifesaving actions are occurring, all around her. Her singing is surrounded with piano and soft orchestration supporting. Wonderful.
“To the Future”, is another uplifting song to help remind you that they “believe in you”. Reaching out to a world torn by pandemic, hatred, division and war. This band is offering the opposite. Passion for life…all lives.
“Rocker Baby”, is a great heavy, maybe their heaviest, rocker yet. A very good blast, to remind you this band is a rock band. This album has been full of moving and compassionate music. On this song they definitely want to remind you they are; as the band Boston once sang, “Rock and roll band, everybody’s waitin’. Gettin’ crazy, anticipatin’. Love, and music, play, play, play!”
“Bel Air”, is a powerful song to close this, their best album yet…that I have heard. Another powerful, “fight for the light”. Or as I suggested to them, a salute to Triumph’s “Fight the Good Fight”. Only this one opens with beautiful piano and Brian Phillips and Olive Brooke singing, “Just imagine we’re on the ship at sail. It’s where the story begins. So starts the tale. I followed the Dragon. Deep into it’s lair”. Great songwriting. Yes, this is a unique and deep, unfolding story about confronting evil. Reflect on the lyrics: “A believer is his kryptonite!” I won’t spoil the ending. I’ll talk about it when we get together on Zoom. See you there!
I think Sparrohs may have just released their best album yet! But, don’t get too comfortable, they are probably already working towards the end of album number 9 already. Get this one and celebrate it. The next album is right around the corner.
Track List
- Chariot – 4:27
- Video Game – 3:40
- DNA – 3:30
- The Silence – 3:25
- Aleppo – 3:50
- Oasis – 5:11
- Little Bird – 4:20
- Getting Up Again – 3:22
- Once in a Lifetime – 5:47
- To the Future – 4:16
- Rocker Baby – 3:44
- Bel Air – 5:28