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The Portable Genius is a promising debut album by this talented trio. It’s packed with fine musicianship, a good strong rhythm section, thoughtful lyrics and fabulous vocals. The mix is squeaky clean.
It opens up with “Would Love To” a gorgeously rich instrumental jam. The next track is “Understanding Orange” – this one has some excellent guitar work and great vocals. “The Guest List” has delightfully engaging lyrics and lots of really cool synthesizer work. “American Royalty” is smooth with amusing lyrics that impart a clever message. Things soften up a bit with “Freezing.” This one is almost a ballad with somewhat melancholy lyrics and fabulous guitar stylings. The pace picks up again with “Long Road to Nowhere,” a catchy and extremely danceable number. “No One” is one of my favorite songs here with sweet vocal harmonies, more funky synth stuff happening and a magnificent bridge. “The Chance” has a remarkable mix of styles – think head-banging blues. I realize it sounds odd, but it works beautifully. Three bonus tracks (remixes of “Understanding Orange”) are included as well.
There is a distinctive ‘90s feel to this work that makes it extremely difficult not to love. The sound is somewhat reminiscent of The Cure with a bit of a Crash Test Dummies spin laced throughout. I’m certain that we can look forward to a lot more excellent work from BM Linx.
