'Little Band That Could' Alert! - Blue & Gold

Blue and Gold, the power quartet from New York City, follows a simple and time-tested formula. Write songs people like. That probably sounds shallow, but it’s an axiom that is all too often forgotten, particularly amidst the image maintenance and minutia of independent music.

Yet, here we see that very basic principle employed to rather startling effect – from the beginning of their EP, “Ghost Man” envelopes the listener in familiar tone and accessible melody. There’s an easy count-in played in equal parts by guitar and sensuous vocal, before the flower unfolds into an infectious sort of throwback rocking. This, and the pieces that follow, are the sort of songs that you’d expect to have heard hanging out at an upscale lounge in the heyday of rock’s emergence. Blue and Gold comes off as one part Ramones, one part White Stripes and one part Halestorm. The common theme, as one can plainly see, is the foundation of rock itself.

Nowhere is this combination more evident than the pleasantly insistent “Anything For Love,” a song whose cadence suggests a subtle edge couched within the layers of easy going rock melody. The construction is both consistent and thorough – never more complicated than it has to be to be enjoyed, and concurrently never dumbed down. The big hook chorus is accented by the gritty-without-being-abrasive guitar, the pieces culminating in a wonderful mix of placid tones and rousing riffs.

Blue and Gold knows who they want to be and knows where their strength lies, which is critical in establishing oneself amidst the tens of thousands of also-rans. The sound is tight, the guitar tones solidly on-point and the cohesiveness of the musicians evident. There is good music here, all it needs is a little support. Check out Blue and Gold’s EP here.