Sunny music from Feed the Need provides late summer soundtrack
Reviewed by Alison Murphy
Feed the Need/Feed the Need
There are moments when Feed the Need could be called Weezer, Jr. Maybe it’s due the group’s boyish, almost nerdy vocal harmonies which are in plain view on a number of tracks, especially “Ride the Wave” and “Sooner Than Later.” However, the lads aren’t as angst-ridden or loud as Weezer at their most rocking moments; rather, Feed the Need employ a decidedly more mellow brand of pop/rock, informed by funk, jazz, and surf music as much as alternative rock. In fact, it’s hard to pinpoint Feed the Need’s exact style as these kids are extremely versatile in their playing, ripping into a smoking blues riff on “Without Words” and then flirting with reggae on “Jamaica Breeze.”
Brothers Matt (guitar) and Josh King (keyboards) share vocal duties apparently although it’s difficult to tell them apart. They sound incredibly young, not unlike how Billie Joe Armstrong was in the pre-platinum days of Green Day (without the rage, though). They’re certainly more ambitious than many artists their age, who mainly find one simple style and attempt to replicate it again and again. Oddly, the group’s version of Sugar Ray’s “Someday” sounds more ’80s than the original’s effort to capture the sunny MTV glaze of that era. As we near the end of summer, Feed the Need provides a fitting soundtrack.
