Sunny and noodly jazz-prog prodigies CHON already impressed a lot of us on staff with the first single off of their upcoming debut full-length Grow, ‘Story.’ Their brilliant technicality has never been in question, but there were lingering questions on whether the group could harness that into something more compelling than riffs and extended instrumental sketches. ‘Story’ showed a lot of great promise and development in the songwriting department, and new single ‘Can’t Wait’ compliments it nicely. Give it a listen after the jump!
To get the obvious out of the way, yes, those are vocals you hear. The source appears to be bassist Drew Pelisek, who also lent his mellow pipes to the track ‘Suda’ off of the Woohoo! EP. Unlike the sprawling ‘Story,’ ‘Can’t Wait’ is a fairly simple, 3-minute pop song infused with CHON’s blend of bright jazz progressions and impressive licks. If I hadn’t already heard ‘Story’ I might be a bit concerned that this was the direction the band was headed in for the album as a whole and that they were already going soft, but in context with it, ‘Can’t Wait’ sounds like an appropriate cool-down from their more burning, revved-up tracks. Either way, this is an overall positive sign towards the band taking songwriting seriously for the album and bodes well for the rest of Grow.
Grow is out March 24 through Sumerian. Upcoming tour dates with Circa Survive and Balance and Composure are below.
03/16 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theater
03/17 – Jacksonville, FL @ Underbelly
03/18 – Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
03/20 – Grand Prairie, TX @ QuikTrip Park (South By So What)
03/21 – Corpus Christie, TX @ House of Rock
03/23 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s
03/24 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
03/26 – Louisville, KY @ Headliner’s Music Hall
03/27 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
03/28 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection
03/29 – Palatine, IL @ Durty Nellie’s
03/31 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
04/01 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
04/02 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
04/06 – Missoula, MT @ The Wilma Theatre
04/07 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
04/09 – Reno, NV @ Knitting Factory
04/10 – Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre
04/12 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/19 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/20 – Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
04/26 – St. Louis, MO @ The Ready Room
04/28 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
04/29 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
05/01 – New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
05/02 – Clifton Park, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall
05/03 – Stroudsburg, PA @ Sherman Theater
-NC