Santiago - Rosenbergs After Dark
Rating
RIYL
JawbreakerAgainst Me!
Smoking Popes
Superchunk
Tracklist
1. City of Roses, 2:35 am2. Welcome to Town
3. We All End Up at Eggen and Lance
4. We Are Everywhere
5. The Night They Drove the Midway Down
6. Interlude on Fourth Street
7. Julio Carrillo, Our Founder, and His Inevitable Resignation
8. A Ballad for Audrey Madigan
9. Down at Julliard Park
10. Trying to Find Our Home
11. The Calm of Courthouse Square
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Santa Rosa is a semi-small town of about 160,000 folks nestled 60 miles and a 45 minute drive north of San Francisco. It also happens to be where I grew up, as well where Santiago songwriter and frontman Gabe Meline – longtime and well-loved stalwart of the North Bay music scene and one-time member of The Mr. T Experience - was raised and still calls home along with bassist Kyle Lindauer (drummer Josh Drake kicks it two towns over in Petaluma). The fact that you’ve maybe never heard of the place - let alone been there - doesn’t dampen the enjoyment to be had from listening to critically acclaimed indie rock group Santiago’s latest album Rosenberg’s After Dark, a concept piece lovingly written around (and dedicated to) the "City of Roses". While it may provide a teeny bit of clarity to know that the “Eggen and Lance” we are informed that we all end up at in track three is indeed a local mortuary, it’s far from essential. The spirit and personality of Santiago’s songs evoke a colorful small town that could exist anywhere on the map.
But what about the music? Well, it’s poppy and catchy, engaging and smart, raw and immediate; the list of apropos adjectives could go on and on. Check out the RIYL section for some further clarity, although even that list is but the briefest of explanations for the sound that is Santiago. The first time I saw them I thought it was hard driving folk rock like Against Me!; the next time I mentally compared it to the straight forward indie pop of Jawbreaker. Each and every listen to Santiago and Rosenberg’s brings out a new element, a new sound. Much of this is Meline and company’s loving attention to detail – with lots of little quirks in the playing and well used elements like back up vocals, level changes and track segueing.
Like most talents in today’s post modern musical landscape, Santiago is sharp enough to know that there is little point in being driven to re-invent any wheels or break down any barriers in terms of sheer originality in one’s sound. Often the greatest music lies in the ability to pick up a collection of ideas, themes and sounds that you have heard and loved before and utilize them in fresh new combinations and ways. Santiago is not afraid to delve into several different styles of music within their given direction. Some moments suggest a curious type of Americana, a folksy element that may bring to mind images of dusty trails and stiff drinks (see the opening acoustic ditty, “City of Roses, 2:35 am”, for the best example of this). There’s the hard rock of “The Night They Drove the Midway Down”, the sunny, almost-pop feeling of “Down at Julliard Park” – etc. etc., on and on, and all that business. Some things are truly unique, but most are comfortably familiar.
The cliché, the tradition, the old standby; these are not things to be feared in this City of Roses (musically speaking or otherwise) – instead they are embraced and coddled like a newborn indie rock baby. With a whopping 14 local guest artists of the Santa Rosa music scene (including members of local heroes turned indie darlings The Velvet Teen) adding to the affair, and charming local tales and legends aplenty running throughout the lyrics, Santiago sure makes Santa Rosa sound like one hell of an interesting place to live.
--Jeff Latta
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