ALBUM REVIEW: The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

Brainchild of vocal virtuoso Casey Crescenzo, The Dear Hunter is a brilliant rock band with progressive leanings. Their first three albums each comprise a single act in a planned six act story arc.  The second album, Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading clocked in at seventy-seven minutes (whittled down from one hundred and twenty minutes of material). A sprawling masterpiece, this album was the true beginning of their unique, old-time, burlesque influenced progressive style.

On the third album, Act III: Life and Death, the band continued to polish their original style and managed to streamline the work into a much more manageable fifty-seven minutes. Out of the first three albums, this one is their most accessible. Every song on it is solid and compact, without the careless meandering heard on the last record that those with low attention spans may not be able to handle.

After completing Act III, Casey decided that he needed to take a break from the original concept and work on a new project. He announced “The Color Spectrum”, nine, four track EPs, one for each color: Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and White. The sheer ambition of this project was enough to raise an eyebrow from adoring fans. Who would want to buy nine separate EPs, each based on how a color sounds? Oh, me of little faith.

In lesser hands, this would have been an epic, career ending failure, but now I as kneel  humbled and shamed by my earlier doubt before the great alter of Crescenzo, I am thrilled to say that “The Color Spectrum” is yet another amazing masterpiece. This album (and it is an album, all thirty-six tracks comprise its whole) evokes in me a kind of synesthesia. Each four track section sounds like its representative color looks. I don’t know how he did it. But he did, and it is good.

Black hits like you’re lost in a vacuum, being pummeled by extra worldly debris. Red flares with the dirty anger that the lyrics define (“I am cynical,” he says, “It’s a curse”). Orange drops the anger for a pure, grooving, ‘grab life by the tits’ attitude. Yellow is reliably sunny and jaunty, like listening to a Shins album on vinyl. Green is a bit more melancholy than expected. It feels like accepting life on life’s terms, it is bittersweet. Blue is sparse and contemplative. Indigo is all electronic, a sort of psychedelic dream. Violet is a triumphant return to their original style, conjuring up burlesque houses, fur coats, and fedoras, particularly on the track “Mr. Malum”. White is a spiritual and necessary end, the end of a journey or the end of life. There is talk of returning home, that everything is okay and it makes you feel that way.

I cannot emphasize enough how awesome this album is. If you buy it, get “The Color Spectrum Complete Collection”. There is another “Color Spectrum” album out there that only has twelve or so tracks, just a couple from each EP. You want the whole thing, and you want to listen to it from start to finish. Not to mention, The Complete Collection comes with a full color book with an explanation for each EP and a DVD with some interesting behind the scenes footage.