Crooked Flower
Into the Light
(Crooked Flower)

A Santana-like swirly guitar lead and the solid percussion groove of “Dancing,” begins Berkeley-based Crooked Flower’s new album Into the Light. With the scary guitar echo trilling of “Search Warrant” following into the stuttering rockin’ of “Freedom,” it’s obvious that this is a 4-piece that has something to say.

I love the jumpy groove to “Around and Around,” the white reggae of “10 Million Seeds,” (my favorite here), and the dirty lead guitar on “Falling,” makes for another great tune.

“Own World,” really turns Into the Light on its ear. Piano tinkling, brush-shuffling beat; it’s a torch song ender that showcases Angelina Dang’s vocals better than any tune here. It’s another highlight of these eight. The jamming out to the end is super cool.

I’m not sure I am sold on lots of what sound like the same sounds (especially from the guitar) of Crooked Flower’s arsenal. This is why I was so taken with the last tune “Own World,” as it sounded so unlike everything else, by the time I came to it my ears were loving the difference. Still, there’s a lot of solid songwriting and tight playing here from Daniel Erik on bass, Dan Ingberman on guitar, and the wonderful drumming and percussive maneuvering of Patrick Shields. Angelina Dang singing over the top completes a pretty tight unit.