A gorgeous sophomore album from Brooklyn-based project Extra Space, New Colors explores the beauty of ordinary moments. Intricately woven guitars and soft, contemplative vocals guide a melodic journey through life’s rich nuances, delivering an immersive, atmospheric rock experience. Their 2024 debut album Green Season caught our ears with its warming blend of rock and folk, and New Colors presents further captivating songwriting. “On the last record we did a lot of song sharing and contributing to/expanding upon each other’s written songs but a chemistry was established and capturing that was paramount on this record,” Extra Space says. “New Colors feels like the first real fruition of this project.”
Comforting guitar jangles and lush vocal introspection open the album with “Never Wanted,” its gently harmonious vocal layers arriving into a blissful “’til the wind came…” lyrical scene-setting. The “starts to rain” sequence continues the riveting imagery and guitar-based momentum, maintaining a steady-toned and melodically compelling allure. A pulsing haziness arrives on the ensuing “Twenty-Four,” where chugging guitar suaveness leads to textured, twangy flourishes, while “Spiral” excels with a brisker momentum. “All the chatter in your brain, always standing on your tip-toes,” the vocals let out here, with the “outside in the storm” segment continuing the album’s knack for outdoor settings and ordinary moments, from walks in the park to rainy-day intrigue. The production’s mixture of trickling serenity and blaring electric doses make for a lovely, atmospheric listening experience.
“Wallflower” is another highlight, melding twangy slow-burn introspection and a “can I make new colors?” vocal plea, followed up by a delectably dreamy “tangled in the undertows” hook. Similar to “Spiral” it consumes in its cohesive balance of nocturnal guitar glistening and fervent, jumpy eruptions, set within themes of time and nuance. Up next, “Something Strange” reminds fondly of The Clientele in its jangly guitar and ethereal vocal interplay, its “I’m all right for now” vocal proclamation soothing in its calming tonal disposition. The project’s talent for vivid scenes again shows on “Elevator.” “Red leather and this cab smells like a cigarette,” those vocal depictions let out, furthering another rainy-day setting. The caressing bass and mellow keys make for an enthralling, immersive slacker-rock appeal.
Also enamoring in its contemplative warmth, “Paper Thin” infuses descriptions of a “weightless breeze” with guitars that seemingly echo that feeling, free-flowing with late-night moodiness, resembling a dream-like state in its concluding refrain and hope for inner-peace. Album finale “Babble” comes next, echoing that blissful state with its 4:00, dinner-on-the-stove imagery while a new baby plays. Swirling guitars gradually move into percussive accompaniments, while vocal appreciation for the “small specks of dust you can only make out in the light” bolsters themes of cherishing the mundane and ordinary, which can be quite beautiful. Oozing appreciation for life’s fleeting moments within a jangling, guitar-led environment, New Colors is an exceptional sophomore achievement from Extra Space.
