The debut EP from Christian Silva is a gloriously fine piece of pop decadence. The sound is so over the top, the band dares you not to like it. Sweet Lord, I tried, but it’s just so damn infectious.
The six tracks of Break from the Past run the gamut of musical influence, but then again, so does the very first song, for which the EP is named. It begins with a Thom York-like vocal over a simple beat, keyboards, and interspersed with the occasional guitar note. About a minute into the song, it picks up-tempo and a choir-like harmony of “oohs” begins, causing the listener to nod his head ever so slightly. Just shy of three minutes the vocals hit a high note and with a squeal of guitars, the whole thing turns into a Queen song, Freddy Mercury and all. You can just picture the proudly displayed chest hair, the tight pants, and the sweet, sweet mustache.
On “How to be a Man,” the men of Christian Silva show their softer side, with the heartfelt lyrics sung over an acoustic guitar and keyboard. The song, like several of the others, is well under two minutes. That’s really the most disappointing thing of the EP, that you only get five separate songs (two of the six are the same, one is just shortened), and except for “Break from the Past,” most are extremely short.
Even so, the six songs deliver a real sense for the band’s range even if the songs are brief and teasing. The joy infused into the sound is enough to make even the curmudgeonliest of people (like me) tap their feet and smile. The upbeat songs are so much so that they walk a fine line between brilliance and cheese. The slower ballads are also in the right place between honest and sappy. Hopefully the band will produce a full-length effort soon.
