Peer Validated

Pictured: The indie musician’s version of Twister. Right hand on glockenspiel, left foot on clarinet…

Let’s just get it out there right away, The Six Parts Seven don’t have singing in their songs. Thankfully, I didn’t know that before I downloaded their album Casually Smashed to Pieces. I had only read a review that recommended the CD to mellow indie-rock fans, so naturally I snatched it and burned the album for my next car ride. The intro song, Conversation Heart, passed by really smoothly, working a banjo around the lead guitar part before it headed into the second song, Stolen Moments, a slow mathy-sounding song featuring two slightly electric guitar parts weaving back and forth and a melancholic horn section rising up and down underneath them. It really wasn’t until well into the third song, Knock At My Door, that I realized there hadn’t been any vocals yet, and by then I was so convinced by T6P7’s mellow, super lush, movie-soundtrack-style that I didn’t want a singer to come in and ruin what was going on. This approach lets Casually Smashed to Pieces put the listener in a setting, and then it leaves it up to them to discover the story for themselves, and I don’t know about you guys, but I do love me some good storytelling.

The Six Parts Seven - Stolen Moments

The aforementioned Stolen Moments, with its aforementioned electric guitar weavery.