GregHowley.com

After my last review for Barenaked Ladies' Barenaked Ladies are Men, I'm hesitant to do another review of an album at all. At the time I wrote it, I wasn't a huge fan of the album, but since then I've grown very fond of it. In fact, it's my second favorite of their albums, just after Barenaked Ladies are Me. In any event, I've just gotten a copy of Torch's album Before The Night Is Over, and I love it.

I got a copy of the title track probably a few years ago on some mp3 blog, back when I used to visit mp3 blogs frequently. It lived quietly and ignored on my hard drive for a number of years until I made its way onto my mp3 player and I noticed it again. After a few listens, I grew fond of it and googled the lyrics, where I found out about TOrcH and bought the CD from CDBaby.

Aside from the vocals, the band consists of jazz guitar, string bass, and drums. And that's just perfect for a small band like this. It's just the type of music I used to dance to, and the sound reminds me a lot of a lot of the New York bands, like the Blue Saracens or George Gee's small band.

The disc has excellent covers of Nice Work If You Can Get It, I Fall In Love Too Easily, and a nice upbeat version of Lullaby of the Leaves, as well as a number of original tunes. Silent Town channels a Girl from Ipanema vibe, and High Maintenance has some really nice skat - it'd be a great song to dance to. Their version of You Came a Long Way From St. Louis is almost a rap/jazz hybrid in that it uses no instruments other than drums, and is largely atonal, relying primarily on rhythm.

You can listen to excerpts from their album at TOrcH's site or at their CDBaby page.