Skinny Alley - Songs From The Moony Boom

Skinny Alley

Songs From the Moony Boom

*** and a half

Counter Culture Records

Four years after the debut album, Escape the Roar, Kolkata-based Skinny Alley have released this second offering. At first listen, Songs From the Moony Boom might not have the kind of instant connect the first album did – perhaps because of the breathlessly frantic rhythm section in most of the songs. But give it a fair listen, and rest assured it will grow on you. The band’s collective jazz and funk influences show through clearly in this album – be it the extended jam in “Swunk,” or the chiming rhythm guitar in “Go Figure.” The latter has gentle funk morphing into dirty riffing and back, effortlessly. On “Shape Your Life,” Amyt Dutta shows us why he is on our list of best Indian guitarists.

© Bobin James/Rolling Stone India, 2008