Colony House – When I Was Younger

By Misc Contributor

By David Appelt

You are about to love this band. I promise. Colony House (composed of Caleb Chapman, Will Chapman, and Scott Mills) could very well be the next big indie rock band. Grabbing their sound from extremely familiar influences, it somehow becomes something completely fresh. From the first time I heard “Keep on, Keeping on” I was hooked. (You will be too, you haven’t heard anything like it, I promise). From there, the band released its first radio single “Silhouettes.” This song, drawing heavily from 70’s rockabilly and 80’s rock and roll, is much more representative of the group’s overall sound. Although, I should tell you that you will still love this band even if you don’t love those genres. The sound they produce is a perfect modern indie rock composition, which is why they have become a mainstay on stations such as XM’s ‘altnation’ as of late. As great as the news is about the band, the quality of the album is even more exciting.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/144204743″ /]

“When I was Younger” is a fantastic debut album. From start to finish you will hear a consistent sound in terms of quality and content, though instrumentally it may change a bit. You will definitely fall in love with the singing of Caleb Chapman, and the enthusiasm for his lyrics is sure to follow soon enough. The album is interesting, as it combines quality light listening “windows-down” songs like “Silhouettes” with ones that ask for much more thoughtful listening, like “Won’t Give Up.” The front half of the album will be the most heavily played, as most of these tracks are more radio sensitive than those on the second half of the album. You will surely jump right into songs like “Silhouettes,” “Keep On, Keeping On,” and “Second Guessing Games.” Soon after you will find that the album is not short of surprises. The blues-ridden “2:20” changes the pace midway through the album, sending you into the second half, which is much more ballad-style than the first. The pace of the music may slow down, but the quality of the album doesn’t take any such hit. Songs like “Waiting for my Time to Come,” and “Moving Forward” (written by Caleb, reflecting shortly after the death of his younger sister) will likely be my personal favorites for a long time to come. These songs, as well as “Glorious,” show that the songwriting skill of this group is far above and beyond the typical level of the unknown indie-rock band you pretend to like because everyone else says they’re the “next big thing.” This is a group that will force you think about their music and ask questions, because they believe that’s why music exists. All in all, this album is the best I’ve heard this year, and it will be tough for anyone to best it.

There’s simply nothing to change about this album.