Wishing For Boardwalk CD

One listen to Canada's own Red Umbrella and you'll realize that you've stumbled across that rare combination of smart lyrics and inspired, artistic music. Their debut release, Wishing for Boardwalk speaks to the breadth and depth of the Christian faith, while marrying the message to melodies that will be swirling around your brain for hours after you've turned off the music. Includes "Broken Hearts," "Elevator," "What About Me," and more.

WHEN WISHFUL THINKING BECOMES REALITY

Wishing for Boardwalk succeeds without a noted industry producer, modern worship clichés or any easy modern rock comparisons. This Canadian quartet has masterfully pieced together a mature sound collage that feels both organically classic and progressively forward leaning. The band’s melodies and unique sound hold seemingly disparate influences together nicely.

Take, for instance, the intro, “Storm Warning,” and the hard-driving “Straitjacket.” Listeners are just as likely to hear remnants of early ’80s rock icons The Cars as they are early Radiohead or ’90s piano rock upstart Ben Folds. Tracks such as “Home” successfully balance poetic, hope-filled lyrics and distinctively soulful arena-sized vocals on top of the slow shimmy of a ’60s go-go.

Fortunately, vocalist/guitarist Jeremy Michaelis is perfectly suited to front such a multi-dimensional band. Falling somewhere vaguely between Paul McCartney and Roy Orbison in tone, Michaelis’ warm and welcoming voice morphs perfectly to meet each track, as in the song “Slide.” When Michaelis croons the lines “There she’s on her knees saying, ‘No one’s ever pleased,’ my dear/Life is like a slide/It’s a really fine ride/If we could realize God’s on our side,” he transforms fairly straight-forward lyrics into a hopeful, yet heart-wrenching, mantra. And, while this—like all the songs on this disc—is thematically a song for our times, it also swirls with spacey Revolver-era Beatles undertones that make Red Umbrella a band that can be easily enjoyed across generational lines. It also makes Boardwalk a contender for “Best Modern Rock Album” this year.

ANTHONY-BARR JEFFREY – CCMMagazine.com

Red Umbrella—featuring lead singer/guitarist Jeremy Michaelis, keyboardist/guitarist Dennis Michaelis, drummer Jason Rosewell and bassist Kevin Swartwood—is from the small town of Parry Sound in Ontario, Canada. Simply put, they are one of the best young bands I have ever seen. They are creative, funny and very talented and have the undercurrent of God’s love permeating through their music. Red Umbrella’s new record, Wishing For Boardwalk (7Spin), is a wonderful collection of songs and sounds. If my gushing is not enough to make you check out this band, just imagine The Beatles, Coldplay and The Killers infused with added originality and class, and you have Red Umbrella. Actually, scrub that. They are their own thing completely. Be sure to check out out redumbrella.net and myspace.com/redumbrella.

Paul: Did you know that I am a Red Umbrella fan?
jeremy: Yes! The autographed T[-shirt] is in the mail.

Paul: How do you guys write your songs? Explain the process.
jeremy: Musically, the album was mostly written live in our underground lair. We love playing together and working parts out on the fly. Sometimes it’s more fun to do it that way than to sit around and debate the benefits of one chord over another. Once we have some pieces that we all like, we pull the structure together and record it live. We often listen back to pieces and see how they come across through the studio monitors; sometimes they change in tones and colors from the live sound to recorded medium, which can be good.

Paul: Is there any dominant theme that has emerged on your new album Wishing for Boardwalk?
jeremy: The idea of wishing. I think that’s why we went with the title. Boardwalk symbolizes the best things that people long for; but to find these things and possess them is not to find objective fulfillment. It is a sham. Without God, things become meaningless and vain. C.S. Lewis said that, if we do indeed have longings that cannot be filled with the natural, then the most logical thought is to look for fulfillment in supernatural things.

Paul: I think you guys would go over really well in Europe. Have you got any plans? Want me to make some calls? (laughs)
jeremy: You certainly are welcome to make calls. Kevin, our bass player, is quite a fan of playing in Europe. I think we all would love to go at some point. Let’s work something out!

Paul Colman – CCMMagazine.com

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Reviewed by alyssa (california), August 07, 2007

Just bought this Cd. Luv it! Totally recommend it. Its a different type of music, kind of like the Beatles.

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