Pacanomad
Restless EP
(self-released)

Pacanomad presents a straight-ahead mix of rock, some southern rock sensibility strut and a smidgen of old school R&B on their new EP, Restless. Chantel Rivard gets a good head-of-steam with her limited, but distinctive pipes, Zack Stewart keeps us in the pocket with his drumming, with Dave Ball’s bass playing right in line with him, and Nick Cifaldi adds some well-placed and played guitar.

The opening to “Heaven Can Wait” is a laid back strut-of-a-number, though nothing special. It snaps nicely and Rivard gets us in her palm pretty quickly. The second song, “I Lost You,” features Ball’s subtle big fat notes and a chunky chorus where we hear Cifaldi stretching out a bit. It’s a good song with a nice groove.

The title track truly showcases the R&B sense of this band and the full sexiness of Rivard; she really does use what she has very well. Again we get some nice, underplayed touches from Cifaldi, though he does wail here in a Keith Richards vein, and like all the members of his band, he has taste enough to know what to play and when to play.

The ender, “Till It’s Mine,” sees the band roiling into some fine traveling choruses (Ball is especially on fire here) with the verses being a nice, soft reggae swipe with lots of spaces. It shows good song writing maturity to write a song with such distinct yet at the same time commercial sound.

You can (and should) find the full Pacanomad story here and listen to their EP here.