US based, Tunnel Vision, have a great fun new single out – Baja Bound – and we’ve been taking a good long listen at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
We just love the positive, sun-drenched vibe of this funky soul/reggae/surf rock style track. It starts with an exciting smear across the keys that pans from one side to the other, making for a great stereo feel.
Baja Bound has some wonderful horn section moments with some great, tight stabs that give the song a reggae feel that made us all nod our heads both in time and in appreciation.
The layered vocals are done extremely well, with some good use of stereo in the backing vocals to fill out the overall soundscape.
Lyrically fun (how often can you rhyme “señorita” with “margarita” and leave the audience with a big smile on their faces.
We love the soloing in this track. The effect-drenched guitar solo feels a little “Edge”- like, and is followed later in the song with a wonderful smear-technique hammond solo that sweeps into a brass section solo. Everything about the soloing of this track is spot on. The electric guitar solo was an interesting choice for the genre, but it worked well and took the song to a whole new level. No longer just a reggae track but much more of a Ska style, Southern California style. Reminiscent, just slightly of UK based The Specials, but with more US influences thrown in for good measure.
You can’t help but feel good listening to Baja Bound. You can’t help but be more than ready to sit on a sun drenched beach in Mexico.
The end of Baja bound is fun; the sounds of someone switching channels on a radio before turning the car engine off and getting out of the car. These kinds of sound effects bring yet another level of class to the song, and reminded us of more prog style artists such as Dream Theater.
The production, as you would expect from a Grammy nominee, is spot on. There are a couple of places where we felt the track could use just a little more panning of instruments to separate them out a touch more, but the master is beautiful.
Tunnel Vision have produced a superb, positive, sun-drenched and classy song in Baja bound, reminiscent of old time ska and reggae but with many modern elements to bring their music to a younger audience. We are excited to hear what they produce next, and are eagerly awaiting their next release. If you are in the US, we urge you to check out their tour dates. This is a tight knit band with a bright future. www.tunnelvisionsc.com/