Buffet Lunch – The Power of Rocks

The Power of Rocks is an entertaining collection of stories cobbled together from observations of people, places and conversations. Consider it a buffet lunch of social snapshots, which seems appropriate as its creators are Scottish band Buffet Lunch. Eschewing a uniform mode of expression, the band adorns their compositions with a variety of distinctive rhythms, bursts of guitar and some more off kilter touches. The listeners know that they are in for a wide array of music in the first four songs. Album opener “Red Apple Happiness” boasts a carnival atmosphere (and a welcome sax accompaniment), while the following two tracks are intensely focused on the beat. The title track arrives as the fourth song and is a more relaxed, melodic and hook-filled offering. And so it goes, with entertaining (but not always linear lyrics), loads of energy and deft musicianship. The emphasis with this band, and in this album, is fun. And if the power of rocks is that it provides fun, I’m going to go collect myself some more rocks. My soundtrack while so engaged? The Power of Rocks, of course.