Color of Sunshine, Field Notes' debut album, which is actually a solo project of Chad Hanson, starts out with a song that reminds me of Elliott Smith. It then makes a left turn at Spoon, and now...now it seems as if he's throwing in a little bit of reverb and going for the My Morning Jacket sound. And this, my friend, bothers me .When you create, why imitate? Records like this are tough to review, because they're not bad, but they're not good, either--they simply are, because they're painfuly inconspicuous. Ironically, the only song that stands out to me is the one entitled "Who's Fooling Who?"
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing to dislike about Color of Sunshine, .but there's not a lot to say about it, either. I have nothing against his music; Hanson's a pretty good singer and arranger, even though each song sounds like the work of other bands I have in my record collection. I mean, I think Hanson's sincere; I don't think he's being pointlessly trendy. I think he just really likes this style of music, and he wanted tomake a record like that, too. I can't say I have a problem with that; but for me, nothing on Color of Sunshine bored me, but nothing stood out, either. I left this record completely reactionless--and that almost never happens. If you like downbeat, nondescript indie rock with a folk bent and a little bit of reverb, then give this a shot, because you might dig it.
--Joseph Kyle
Artist Website: http://www.fieldnotesmusic.com
Label Website: http://www.woodsonlateral.com
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