Localized Music: Color Radio, Be Safe, Beware
Article Tools
Color Radio's Be Safe, Beware EP comprises only four songs and clocks in at just under 20 minutes. Yet the group makes efficient use of the time, slowly unveiling four- and five-minute ventures that blend subtle folk songwriting sensibilities, unwaveringly earnest vocals, and post-rock atmospherics. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work to the band's advantage: Be Safe, Beware's sparse and decidedly understated approach requires an attentive listen and doesn't necessarily go anywhere in the end.
On the group's richer-sounding 2008 EP, Feeling Like You Used To, Color Radio established its talent for more emboldened and immediate material, while skillfully creating mood with underlying tension. With Beware, however, the band's guitars are intermittently restrained, and songs flirt with but ultimately stop short of any pronounced melodies. The result is fare like the steady "Plateau," which calms off midway through just as it to level off. The title track, meanwhile, remains consistently livelier, but ultimately comes off like feeling much longer than its running time. By the time the EP closes on a sparse and despondent note with the acoustic-tinged "Curds & Whey," Beware feels bogged down in its own pacing, which is unfortunate, since Color Radio has proven itself capable of more upbeat and engaging productions. Grade: C
Color Radio plays Cubby Bear Oct. 29, and Metro Oct. 31 as Radiohead. Here they are with, "Towers":
