photo taken by Joy Frenzy

Acoustic guitar filters in as steel pedal harmoniously travels through the opening of The Red Vines' debut album Everyday Needles For Electromagnetic Lovers. Originally basement recordings by Ryan Finnerin he collected a few friends and began to work on an album in late 2006.Released on the Beechfields Record Label it is an exceptional album making use of a variation of instruments such as trombone, kazoo, and cello. Each instrument is executed to create a well rounded album. The lyrics are kept simple to allow more a more instrumentally sound album.

The first song of note is September. It purely illustrates making it through another year and surviving whatever life throws at you. September is a simple song with only two interchanging lines. What keeps this song from being a tiresome endeavor is the backing vocals coupled with the almost supernatural vibe created by haunting cello. Once starts as an overall light feeling and gains some weight with the addition of organ and Finnerin's withdrawn vocals. This song is a refreshing lift from the predominately “spooky” themed album. Miss Strangelove keeps the ball rolling into a Beatles-esque sing song endeavor. Bringing kazoo and a small xylophone solo into the family of upbeat keyboard and vocals gets the job done. The second to last track on album 10,000 Watts uses a more electronic approach reintroducing some xylophone. Back to the foundation of the album the song moves you to envision a old country road in the middle of the night.

Electromagnetic Lovers allows Finnerin and the live band to create the same emotions on stage. With at least five band members and about seven instruments on stage at one time one wonders if the same feeling on the album will translate. Only playing less than a handful of shows it will be exciting to see how their shows evolve as each show continues to be better than the next.