Some Echoes offers neither consistency nor the creativity that might lead us to believe the boys of Aloha are still the innovators we once thought they could be. That said, part of the band’s appeal has always been that they could wear different hats and occasionally do it really well. From pleasant pop sounds to bizarrely appealing vibraphone lines, Aloha has managed to surprise and excite in the past. Unfortunately, on Some Echoes the vibraphone is no longer the quirky presence it once seemed and the lyrics are often humdrum, even hokey: “Who lives in a pinecone/tangled in steel? Who talks to a pinecone alone?” These are the gripping questions posed on the first track, ‘Brace Your Face’. The two shortest tracks on the album are the ones worth spending more time with. ‘Big Morning’ finds Tony Cavallario singing a sweet falsetto, and ‘Between the Walls’ is lyrically the most interesting track here. “Are we dying as in dead?/Or are we being born again?” That’s a good question for Aloha to be asking, though I’m afraid we may already have the answer.
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