Caustic Waves is the solo project of local-to-us Neil Thomas, and has been on the go for three years now. 2023’s Full Circle EP was the project’s debut release, and Echoes the first full album. It’s obvious that from then until now that Neil has drafted in a full band… only he hasn’t. Let’s get this out of the way first. If you didn’t know any better you wouldn’t have a clue that this was a one man band. Writing, recording, instruments, production – it’s all Neil. Lewis Johns (earthtone 9, Employed To Serve) put his stamp on the mastering, but that’s it. If Neil lets me know who did the lovely album art (and it wasn’t him!) then I’ll credit them as well.
Update: “Sandy Wilson from Steel Sky Illustration deserves full credit for the artwork and CD/cassette layouts”
OK, enough of being jealous of people with musical talent. How’s the album? Well, it’s good. It’s really good. Neil’s influences stem mainly from the grungy, alt-rock boom of the 90s and 00s and he manages to pull so much of those influences together without them clashing. Vocals are clear throughout, including his own backing vocals and harmonies which I like, and check out that bass line on the emotive “Spotlights”.
With such a range of influences to pull from it’s no surprise that the album doesn’t get “samey”, much as Full Circle was a nice varied collection. My actual pick of the bunch is “Artificial Lies” which wasn’t one of the four singles to come out in the runup to the album release, but this only emphasises the strength of the material on here. I mean, I’d struggle to pick a couple of songs out of the lineup which say “this is the best way to tell people what Echoes is about” when it’s so varied.
From “Playing With Fire”‘s toe-tapping rhythm and singalong chorus, to the more strip-backed sounds on “Shadow of the Son” (Beatles vibes!), via the more tribal beats of “Insignificance”‘s intro… and more, this is a cracking collection of songs with genuinely zero filler.
By the time the distorted guitar riffs of “Neon Claws” fade out with industrialised echo, Echoes is ripe for a repeat play. This is one release which is absolutely not going to get stale any time soon.
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Echoes is out now
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