The Blue Alarm Astronauts And Angels. Release Date : August 8, 2004. Label: Cazart! Records. Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. By jove, now this is a satisfying find. Sometimes, one hits the right combination of musicians that really make you think it's a shame they didn't get together sooner, but at the same time, you thank all that is holy that they found each other at all. The Blue Alarm is one such band. Musicians who have journeyed around the Vancouver music scene in a number of capacities for quite some time, and have actually been together as a band for longer than this release might outwardly indicate. True, they hit a few name changes and have evolved greatly in the past few years, but the culmination has proven fruitful. The music here is spacey and delicate, special, and never rough or jarring. While it wavers between rock and balladry, It's never too far in either direction. For a modern CD with electric guitars, it's refreshingly un-wanky, and while it doesn't fit the standard mold of today's radio fare, it feels like it could find a home in popular media regardless. It has potential to be something other bands will aspire to. We have a Britrock sound that comes off unpretentious and doesn't seem like the band members are trying to actually be British. The disc opens with a warbly, record-like layer over the music, which is a sound we'll hear revisited on the closing track 10, "God." Between those two well-tied-together points, the experience The Blue Alarm takes us on is beautiful. The music, somehow movie-theme-ish ebbs and flows, never battling with the vocals. Those vocals absolutely make this album the stand-alone piece it is. Fraser MacKenzie has a gift. At moments, it recalls the theatrics of Hawksley Workman, and others, the anthemics of Bono. MacKenzie has his own distinct and spectacular qualities though, and a versatility that could challenge the most adept rock vocalists. His is a rich, rich voice that breathes the life into the music. It's intense, low and rolling, humming, but will break loose suddenly into a carefree high trill, cavorting about the higher end of the scale. He produces this stunning contrast easily in the midst of "Gum," a 'live' track in the middle of the disc. Don't take that to demean the instruments behind him. The sounds produced by Brian Minato and Graham Tuson, as well as MacKenzie, are gorgeous. An eclectic range of pianos, keys and guitars prevail, mingling together gently into an aural soup in which you can taste each ingredient, yet still sense that delicious whole that brought each of those ingredients purposefully together. Vancouver, it seems, has much to be proud of. Come see the Blue Alarm, along with a myriad of other great bands, on Saturday, January 15, 2005, at the Railway Club. Presented by Cazart! Records and Cord Magazine. Lyric of choice : I'll miss the part of you I choose to. from Astronauts And Angels. Powerful. But it must be noted that the lyrics in this collection are very intelligent, wordy, and cleverly put together. Song of choice : "Gum", just for that dang vocal swap. -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere The Blue Alarm website Published : January, 2005.