Photo Credit: Jake Posner
A R I Z O N A is a fairly new pop rock band who have one main album and many singles. Their main album, Gallery is a 38-minute exploration into several different vibes. From song to song, there is a shift from more upbeat and high energy pieces to slowed down, lower energy songs. Similar artists that could draw a comparison for this style of music would be The Weeknd or The Chainsmokers. If you like those artists, this would possibly be another group that you’ll love to listen to.
“Oceans Away” is the most popular song on the album racking in an impressive 158 million listens on Spotify. This track is hands down their best quality of work on Gallery. The song is a considerably slower song than the first song, “Annie” but the production and catchiness of the chorus makes for a good piece. The rest of the second act of the album also has this vibe but something about “Oceans Away” makes it stand out amongst the rest. Maybe the drum beat? Maybe the warm element of the low synth vocals in the bottom? Whatever the case may be, this formula worked great for this track.
Overall, the lyrical content of this album is fairly generic with the usual pop themes of discussing love and “being rebellious”. Since this album, the band has definitely grown. Now, A R I Z O N A has been focusing more on creating singles as opposed to a full album. Recently, the group put out a two track EP called Cold Nights // Summer Days.
The first track, “Summer Days” as to no surprise, has a summer sound to it. The piece starts with a very rhythmically plucked guitar that continues throughout most of the song. It has a catchy interval and melody produced by the guitar and the rest of the song builds around it. There are several synth patches including vocal patches and bell tones. This makes the piece feel very bright. The chorus and verse both have simple yet catchy melodies that will have you humming even after the song is over.
The second song on the EP, entitled “Freaking Out”, also contains the plucked guitar motif. The vocals are a little more understated in this piece with heavier reverb and effects. This song also has a very bright, summer sound to it and builds to another catchy chorus. Both songs on Cold Nights // Summer Days are a step up in quality compared to their 2017 full album debut and these tracks can be easily placed into a summer jam playlist.
A R I Z O N A has some catchy melodies and warm, bright instrumentals but at times, they suffer from lackluster lyrics. Although this music is great for listening while driving, if you look for more substance in your music, this band probably won’t be for you.
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