The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
The Spill Magazine The Spill Magazine
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • Track Of The Day
  • Track Of The Month
  • Books + Movies
  • About
16
new
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: H.C. McENTIRE – EVERY ACRE
SPILL NEW MUSIC: BODYWASH ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘I HELD THE SHAPE WHILE I COULD’ + SHARES NEW SINGLE
SPILL NEW MUSIC: THE BOO RADLEYS RELEASE NEW SINGLE AHEAD OF NEW ALBUM
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JERRY LEGER – LIVE FROM PARADISE
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BOB DYLAN – FRAGMENTS – TIME OUT OF MIND SESSIONS (1996-1997) THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 17
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MARIANNE FAITHFULL – KISSIN’ TIME (REISSUE)
SPILL NEWS: YOUNG THE GIANT ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN TOUR WITH MILKY CHANCE STARTING MAY 30
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: TEARING UP – “SAID SOMETHING”
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: EDNA FRAU – “ON THE LONG RUN”
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: GHOST LOVE – “MOURNERS DISCO”
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KEVIN MORBY – MUSIC FROM MONTANA STORY
SPILL NEW MUSIC: SUBWAY TO SALLY SETS SAIL WITH SECOND SINGLE “LEINEN LOS” + UNVEILS ANIMATED OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: UNIVERSAL HONEY – “TIME BLINDNESS”
SPILL VIDEO PREMIERE: THE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY – “IN YOUR EYES”
SPILL NEWS: ALEXISONFIRE ANNOUNCE TORONTO PERFORMANCE JUNE 16 AT BUDWEISER STAGE WITH SPECIAL GUESTS PUP AND METZ
SPILL NEWS: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD RELEASE VIDEO FOR NEW SONG “HAWAII” | GROUP WILL COMPETE TO REPRESENT IRELAND AT EUROVISION 2023
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Features
    • Live Reviews
    • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • Headlines
    • News
    • Contests
    • Events
    • Entertainment Headlines
    • Concert Listings
    • Toronto Concert Venues
  • New Music
    • Premieres
    • Track Of The Day
  • Track Of The Month
  • Books + Movies
  • About
  • Spill Menu
    • Reviews
      • Album Reviews
      • Features
      • Live Reviews
      • Festivals
    • Portraits
    • Headlines
      • News
      • Contests
      • Events
      • Entertainment Headlines
      • Concert Listings
      • Toronto Concert Venues
    • New Music
      • Premieres
      • Track Of The Day
    • Track Of The Month
    • Books + Movies
    • About
Album Reviews
235
previous article
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: PATRICK WATSON - LOVE SONGS FOR ROBOTS
next article
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BANDITOS - BANDITOS

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: WARM SODA – SYMBOLIC DREAM

Warm Soda
Symbolic Dream
Castle Face Records
RATING

Warm Soda frontman Matthew Melton crafts tidy songs about summer. Actual lyrics be damned – the words themselves deemed irrelevant by the vibes, man. Warm Soda spins quick and catchy ditties meant to envelop you in a feel-good haze. An ice bucket filled with flavorless beers, a vague distant smell of charred meat, human flesh rotting underneath the hazardous rays of the sun. General bliss. Nostalgia for summers best viewed through the fogged goggles of time and distance.

I listened to Symbolic Dream. That feel-good vibe enveloped me. I listened to Symbolic Dream again, a third time. or did I? Had the album cycled around again? Was this the end or beginning? Was there any difference? I couldn’t tell when one song ended and another began. I gave the music my full and undivided attention, sensory deprivation, aka staring at the progress bar while the songs played. Here’s the ugly downside of focus. To listen to Warm Soda’s third full-length album as I would to a record that’s really hooked me, that’s engaged me on a visceral/emotional/intellectual level, revealed Symbolic Dream’s true identity: a one-note, rarely inspired exercise in monotony. The same wistful, wanting mid-tempo balladry foregrounding a rote set of drum cadences and sun-kissed guitar riffs in the name of aloof doo-wop-laced simplicity.

That said, let’s scale back on the harshness for just a second. In isolated bits and bites, Warm Soda’s tracks elicit the intended response. Easy rocking for a hipper sect. The album begins with “I Wanna Know Her,” a mélange of memories from that indistinct summer of 2004, a nostalgia trip with Melton’s angsty, velvety vocals. At not even two minutes long, there’s a want for more, but not just more, there’s a want for growth and expansion of these ideas. “Crying For a Love,” “I Wanna Go Fast,” “Can’t Erase This Feeling” – the rest of the tracks fall in line, avoiding crescendos and drama that might awake us from our waking slumber. Once you reach the end, however, “Lemonade Lullaby” slams on the breaks, turns up the distortion and recalls Marty McFly’s pre-rocking songs at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance. This is the greatest tonal shift on the album.

Symbolic Dream reminds me of a concept album, some sort of Warhol-brand experiment that hypothesizes the listener will sit through an entire record without recognizing that all the tracks are exactly the same. Click through the track list, select any random moment; it’ll sound just like that last. Out of context, excised from the record any individual track offers a fleeting moment of utility. But don’t let those moments delude you. This is a record with one rock solid, time-tested idea played on a loop. This is the soundtrack of summer, played in the background when nobody’s really paying attention.

– James David Patrick (Twitter @30hertzrumble)

Band Website: warmsoda.org
Label Website: castlefacerecords.com

close

STAY UP-TO-DATE
WITH OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!

* Mandatory Field

Check your inbox or spam folder now (just in case!) to confirm your subscription.

Item Reviewed

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: WARM SODA – SYMBOLIC DREAM

Author

James David Patrick

Here's what we think...
Spill Rating
Fan Rating
Rate Here
New Criteria
10
10
5.0
Total Spill Rating
10
Total Fan Rating
You have rated this
Album Reviews
album reviewssymbolic dreamwarm soda
album reviews, symbolic dream, warm soda
About the Author
James David Patrick
James David Patrick has a B.A. in film studies from Emory University, an M.F.A in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine, and an honorary Ph.D. in bullshitting about everything else from the College of Two Pints. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in PANK, Monkeybicycle, Squalorly, Specter Lit, and Bartleby Snopes among other wordy magazines. While he does not like to brag (much), he has interviewed Tom Hanks and is pretty sure you haven't. He bl-gs about music, movies, and nostalgia at thirtyhertzrumble.com and runs the James Bond Social Media Project at thejamesbondsocialmediaproject.com. James lives in Pittsburgh, PA.
RELATED ARTICLES
album reviews
 
8.0
H.C. McEntire

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: H.C. McENTIRE – EVERY ACRE

by Ljubinko Zivkovic on January 27, 2023
H.C. McEntire Every Acre Merge Records Durham, North Carolina might not exactly be a renowned music center, but that there is quite a good chance that singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire and her latest release, Every Acre, might give that city a [...]
 
8.0
Jerry Leger

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JERRY LEGER – LIVE FROM PARADISE

by Bryan Williston on January 27, 2023
Jerry Leger Live From Paradise Latent Recordings Toronto singer-songwriter Jerry Leger is one of those artists who does not sit still for too long. With his solid motivation and work ethic, it’s little wonder that he is releasing some choice [...]
 
9.0
Bob Dylan

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BOB DYLAN – FRAGMENTS – TIME OUT OF MIND SESSIONS (1996-1997) THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 17

by Aaron Badgley on January 27, 2023
Bob Dylan Fragments – Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997) The Bootleg Series Vol. 17 Legacy/Colombia/Sony Bob Dylan continues his bootleg series with number 17. For this box set, Fragments – Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996 – [...]
 
8.0
Marianne Faithfull

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MARIANNE FAITHFULL – KISSIN’ TIME (REISSUE)

by Aaron Badgley on January 27, 2023
Marianne Faithfull Kissin’ Time (Reissue) BMG By 2002 Marianne Faithful was eager to return to a more contemporary sound following albums in which she focused on Kurt Weill. These include Weill recording and performing his opera The Seven [...]
 
8.0
Kevin Morby

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KEVIN MORBY – MUSIC FROM MONTANA STORY

by Ljubinko Zivkovic on January 25, 2023
Kevin Morby Music From Montana Story Dead Oceans If there’s an artist who can come up with a soundtrack for a neo-Western film today, Kevin Morby might not be the usual choice, but just might be a great one. Scott McGehee and David Siegel [...]

Latest Album Reviews
View All
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: H.C. McENTIRE – EVERY ACRE
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JERRY LEGER – LIVE FROM PARADISE
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BOB DYLAN – FRAGMENTS – TIME OUT OF...
9.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MARIANNE FAITHFULL – KISSIN’ TIME (...
8.0
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KEVIN MORBY – MUSIC FROM MONTANA STORY
8.0

STAY UP-TO-DATE
WITH OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!

* Mandatory Field

Check your inbox or spam folder now (just in case!) to confirm your subscription.

Tweets by @spillmagazine

SPILL MAGAZINE MENU
  • Home | The Spill Magazine
  • Premieres
  • Track Of The Month
  • Album Reviews
  • Books + Movies
  • Features
  • Live Reviews
  • Festivals
  • Portraits
  • News
  • Events
  • Entertainment Headlines
  • Concert Listings
  • Toronto Concert Venues
  • About Us
  • Contests
  • New Music
  • Contributors
  • TOTD
  • Privacy Policy
  • The Scene Unseen
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2023 | The Spill Magazine
All Rights Reserved.

TRENDING RIGHT NOW
   
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: QUADECA – I DIDN’T MEAN TO HAUNT YOU
2313
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE HUMAN LEAGUE – THE VIRGIN YEARS
1827
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: SHRIEKBACK – BOWLAHOOLA
746
 
SPILL LIVE REVIEW: SUEDE AND MANIC STREET PREACHERS @ THE COMMODORE BALLROOM, VANCOUVER
518
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CHEAP TRICK – LIVE AT THE WHISKY 1977
490
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ELVIS PRESLEY – ELVIS ON TOUR
457
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DAVID CROSBY & THE LIGHTHOUSE BAND – LIVE AT THE CAPITAL THEATRE
336
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NAZZ – LOST MASTERS & DEMOS
326
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: LITTLE RIVER BAND – ULTIMATE HITS/MASTERPIECES
314
 
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: GRAMERCY ARMS – “YESTERDAY’S GIRL” FT. LLOYD COLE
312
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JOAN ARMATRADING – LIVE AT ASYLUM CHAPEL
303
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: JEAN-MICHEL JARRE – THE CONCERTS IN CHINA (40th ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
255
 
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL-STARR BAND – LIVE AT THE GREEK THEATRE 2019
255
ENTERTAINMENT HEADLINES