Velo - At Sea

Velo 

​At Sea
self-released; 2017

​4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Ofer Shouval musical brainchild is Velo. The band seems to be in a state of flux right now. The original members who recorded the album At Sea moved away or got engaged. However Shouval was sitting on this recorded music and was interesting in releasing it. He ended working with his friend and engineer Keith Gary who recorded the album to mix and master it.  Shortly after that the album was released into the world.

​At Sea is a great album from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the production, songwriting and vast array of instrumentation. After spending time with the music I think it would fit into the indie rock/baroque pop territory. The two bands that came to mind were Grizzly Bear and The Shins. The only slight criticism I have is the length but it’s really arguable. I felt the album may have worked better at ten tracks rather than the twelve tracks it is. 

The album opens with “Some Ideas.” This song is the one that really reminded me of Grizzly Bear. In fact I thought the song had a striking resemblance to the song “Two Weeks” in particular. That being said the song is lush and quite beautiful in its own right. I especially enjoyed the way the guitars meshed with the horns. Shouval has a palatable voice that is easy to appreciate. 

Up next is “Lady Luck” which opens with some of the most well-delivered vocals with piano. At this point I was excited to hear what else was going to be on this album. One of the highlights was “Triplet Song” which reaches some impressive heights along with same great grooves. “Wild Blue” is explosively dynamic with a soulful guitar solo which contains a lot of unbridled energy.

Towards the second half the other songs that stuck out to me were “Mindless Summer” and the title track “At Sea.”

At Sea is an album that obviously had a lot of time put into it. The compositions, layers of sound and cohesive flow isn't something that comes together quickly. Overall, this album gets two thumbs way up.

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