ROMAN CANDLE:
OH TALL TREE IN THE EAR (Carnival)

89 points out of 100

After three albums, this Chapel Hill, N.C. band has now written a modern-rock masterpiece.

Oh Tall Tree in the Ear is part the kind of ragged, sprawling travelogue you'd imagine Paul Westerberg would pen if he was a roadie for Oasis at the height of Britpop, and part barrage of hallucinatory Dylanesque visions vomited up after a boozy, blurry night spent careening down dark, moonlit North Carolina backroads.

Roman Candle - brothers Skip and Logan Matheny, plus Skip's wife Timshel - take us on an anxious journey to self, examining everything, doubting much and eventually striking an imperfect balance of self-awareness and castigation by exploring the small, telling details of sin, redemption and a return to faith in the ordinary.

Jaan Uhelszki, May 2009

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ALBUM REVIEW: ROMAN CANDLE: THE WEE HOURS REVUE (V2)

FOUR AND A HALF STARS

Talk about a long time coming: Roman Candle's debut has been through two incarnations and three labels since its initial Indie release as Says Pop back in 2002. The latest version, polished to a bright sheen by indie stalwart Chris Stamey (exhibiting a previously hidden commercial acumen) introduces a young band with an already mature, readily identifiable sound built around Skip Matheny's disarming vocals and his drummer brother Logan's infectious grooves.

On "Something Left to Say," Skips sinewy, nasal tenor veritably trumpets out of the speakers -- you cannot ignore this guy -- and the track has a hook that keeps spiraling upward until it reaches a bravura climax. It's followed by a dozen more impeccably crafted songs that are soulful, catchy and literate in equal measure.

The Chapel Hill quintets possesses all the pure-pop essentials, and under the right circumstances they could become the next matchbox twenty - but in a good way. If that miracle occurred, it'd strip the irony form the irresistible, must-hear demo on the band's myspace page: Why Modern radio is A-OK. By

Bud Scoppa, Sept. 06