Search - Bon Voyage :: Right Amount

Dreamy! Melt your troubles away....

J Lee Harshbarger | Ypsilanti, MI United States | 10/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been listening to LOTS of CDs this year, and one has stood clearly above the others--"Unshakeable" by Acquire The Fire. It is so good that I didn't see how any album this year could top it. Ah, but I didn't know Bon Voyage was coming out with a new album! Bon Voyage is musical perfection, and I have now listened to "The Right Amount" much more than "Unshakeable." Just like with Bon Voyage's first album, I listen to this over and over, something I don't normally do with an album. I've had this album for six weeks and have listened to it so many times on the way home from work that now my brain associates the sections of the songs with particular points on the road! I haven't played an album over and over like that since the last Bon Voyage CD!For those who have Bon Voyage's first album, this album has a slightly different sound but is still 100% Bon Voyage. What makes it different is that the fuzzed-out guitars are gone. At first, I was disappointed about that because I love fuzzed-out guitars. But it didn't take too many listens to say, "Who cares the fuzz guitars are gone, this is still fantastic!" The songs on this album most resemble "West Coast Friendship" and "I Just Wanna (Be With You)" from the first album. The final song, "Advice," has the same musical mood as "Together" from the first album...and is just as short. Speaking of short, this album of 10 songs only lasts 28 minutes! But none of the songs seem cut off or anything; they all seem long enough.For those who aren't familiar with Bon Voyage, this group uses acoustic guitars, an electric..."cowboy" guitar, I call it--like one used in some Blondie songs or some songs by Adam & The Ants, but the mood is nothing whatsoever like Adam & The Ants. The songs are mid-tempo or slow, and the recording mix plus the female lead singer's whispery soprano voice give this album a sound that lets you float away into dreamland.To me, Bon Voyage is perfect late summer music, say August or September when all the popular summer spots like the beaches and the amusement parks are less crowded, you've done all the rowdy stuff, and now you just want to be lazy and lay around in the humid summer heat. The perfect song for this is the slow, drifting "All The Traps," whose main line is, "Leave your cares and worries...." This is a song to make you feel like you are lying in a rowboat, just floating on the gentle waves of a quiet lake...or lying in a hammock underneath a willow tree, listening to cicadas chatter away in the late afternoon sun.When I am in a good mood, this album enhances it. When I've had a stressful day at work, this album just melts away all the stress. Normally when I'm stressed, I like intense music like rapcore, but "The Right Amount" is extraordinary in that it can melt away my stress even though it's rather mellow. When I'm depressed, I normally like depressing music like Aleixa or Sixpence None The Richer--anything remotely cheerful is like rubbing salt in a wound. Not so with "The Right Amount." Even when I'm depressed, I can listen to this album, and it doesn't slap me in the face with too much cheerfulness but rather meets me and makes me feel better.The sound is dreamy, sweet, rather mellow, and definitely top-notch. I could go on and on raving about this thing, but I'll stop now and let you buy it and take your own trip to dreamland."

Perfect dreamy pop

kbarth17 | Luckenbach, TX | 02/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you take the mastermind behind Starflyer 59 and add his wife on vocals, this is the outstanding result that you get. Bon Voyage play a dream pop with surf guitars and mild electronic beats, each song is very relaxed and seems to drift upward to the heavens. Julie Martin's voice is angelic and adds a Harriet Wheeler like quality to each track. If you are a big fan of the Sundays or Six Pence None the Richer, you will love this. This is an album that should be put on late at night or on a summer day's drive. The guitar is outstanding as well, it sounds like Starflyer 59 and that is never a bad thing."