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Artist: Chicklet
Album: “Indian Summer”
CD Review: This is fun high energy retro pop with punk influence. Retro as in, it conjures up for me, great music to accompany a 60’s spy film. It is moody and ‘mod’. Pop as in, it's catchy. Punk as in, it has got an edgy attitude a good bit of the time. Fun as in, well it all works together and it's fun. Imagine if the Go Go’s had a younger, edgier, intelligent sister and brother that could actually play and write their own material.

Chicklet is basically the duo of Daniel Barida and Julie Park. Park writes nine of the eleven tracks. They both play guitar, sing, and play keyboards. Barida adds some drums, engineers and produces the record and pens two of the tracks himself. Chris Syntnyk adds bass and Rick Pettit adds some cello.

The production is appropriately raw in spots and psychedelically layered in others. “Threshold” is full of lush distorted guitar and Barida’s punkier tinged vocals. Park’s vocals are slightly more gentle, but all the more to contrast with the not-so-gentle lyrics.

I like “Collide” very much. It's a great use of the keyboards and the rhythm guitar to create the mood. I like “Sight and Sound” for the same reasons. The whole CD is a fun ride throughout

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