Where oh where do I even begin with this one! I am such a huge fan of Boys Life, Mineral, and Christie Front Drive. I still completely nerd out at the aforementioned name of any and all three bands. One can only imagine my reaction when I came across a new side project containing members from each lineup. Suburban Eyes have been in the making for a couple of years, led by Jeremy Gomez (Mineral), Eric Richter (Christie Front Drive), and John Anderson (Boys Life). I absolutely could not wait to pick apart, piece by piece, the characteristics carried over from all three past projects into my new trajectory of discovery!
While Boys Life first captured me with an ever-present, melodic grit layered beneath a continuously evolving arrangement of vocals and tone. Their overall produced sound of Midwest emo has a patented thrash to it I’ve simply never been able to move past. When it comes to Mineral’s music, I recall saying in the past if they ever re-released any of their albums as instrumentals I’d be all for it, as I’ve always been a bit romanticized by the structure of their chords and arrangements. While some of Christie Front Drive’s old tracks give me a profound, deep appreciation for a more subtle simplicity they carry, hits so perfect in all the right places, I still can’t help but to mourn and dig to find relatable qualities present day.
Even more exciting to say, what’s culminated as the resulting effort of Suburban Eyes is a completely different realm and range of sound with small, spiking characteristics of the past that only subtly poke out and grab you, but never strongly enough as a means of distraction from what’s newly being transitioned and presented to you. Absolutely successful in this intent is their track, “Floyd.” With an essence that’s upbeat and harmonious, compiled with a refreshing newfound range of instrumentals and vocals that take us somewhere completely different than anywhere we’ve journeyed in the trio’s former projects. “Headlight Torches” follows closely in this ideal of blending the artistry of each member to create a sound diversified from those they’ve presented us in the past . Overall, it further displays the limitless expansion all members are capable of. What strikes me most of Suburban Eyes, being familiar with the members former projects, was simply how developed and evolved their talents have become.
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