Jeff Tweedy Has a Posse / Sasha Geffen | 08.29.09 |
The latest four-song EP from Color Radio, while over too soon, exhibits exquisite attention to detail. Be Safe, Beware delivers solid hooks amidst airy production. This is definitely a “headphones” record, and one warranting many repeat listens. If you only grant it one go-through, you might not notice all the bells and glockenspiels that creep in under the catchy-as-hell guitar riffs and refrains. Its cranial infiltration is a stealth mission, however, you will not know the songs are catchy until four hours later when the title track is still looping through your brain without inten- tion to stop. Wilco once used similar tactics on Summerteeth, and Color Radio seem to owe much to their fellow Chicago natives. They have the same tendency to philosophize off-handedly over solid rock progressions and swirling ambiance, though the lead guitar riffs would be likelier found on a Cold War Kids track. Poignant closer “Curds and Whey” reaches the same affective heights that Jeff Tweedy is capable of, though Color Radio avoids lyrical enigmas in favor of frank and simple narrative. Be Safe, Beware certainly embodies “qual- ity over quantity,” but it leaves us wondering why we can’t have both, already. Color Radio has demonstrated here that they have the range and capability to tackle a full-length. While the EP maintains tonal consistency, each song distin- guishes itself considerably from the rest and each is strong enough to be a single in its own right. At this point, it’s likely just a waiting game for the LP.
–Sasha Geffen
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