The Rosebuds, Night of the Furies

Departing partly (but not entirely) from previous breezy and sunny sounds of earlier albums Birds Make Good Neighbors and Make Out, The Rosebuds pleasantly surprise us with their new and third full length album, the dark and synth-fueled Night of the Furies. The Rosebuds (Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp) have encompassed a different, but enchanting new sound by channeling Greek mythology about vengeful chicks, jamming out a few bass lines, and delivering some tight dance grooves. This is all due to producing their new album themselves, allowing for new creative opportunities and exciting sounds that they see fit. Earlier albums have been about light topics — blue birds, lovers holding hands, and kissing — but now it’s all about blood, cemeteries, land of deceased relatives, and draining someone’s youth.

Despite the upbeat songs, Howard’s deep and rich vocals effectively ignite a total feeling of despair, while Crisp’s ghostly vocals are haunting. Those both things give the album a gloomy feel from beginning to end. Their songs are catchy yet not lyrically mindless and analytically deep yet not enough to lose you in the process. Their catchiest song by far (and the highlight of the album) is the thoughtful and danceable “Get Up, Get Out,” where they successfully mix dark undertones with an unstoppable pop hook. “Silence from the Lakeside” is their sedated anthem; with howling “oohs” and the jingling of sleigh bells, the song definitely personifies anguish and pain.

With Furies, The Rosebuds are distinctively themselves whilst constantly reinventing their art and relating to those melancholy hearts that want to dance.