Band: Bridge and Tunnel
Album: East/West
Genre: Rock/Punk
Label: No Idea

Tracks:
1. Wartime Souvenirs
2. Call To The Comproller’s Office
3. Night Owls
4. White-Collar Crime Scene
5. Rubrics
6. Dear Sir
7. Town Hall Gathering
8. The World Series
9. Grace For These Wayward Hearts
10. Down For My People Like Joe Carroll
11. As Close As I Can

Dear music fans: the wait for the next band that will release albums that people will still fall in love with in fifteen years has arrived. Who is this new comer to the realm of unforgettable? Their name is Bridge and Tunnel and the album is entitled East/West. Hailing from New York, but on Florida based No Idea Records, Bridge and Tunnel are a raw and passionate band who, with his album, are poised to start a much needed revolution in the music industry that takes us back to real music. Forget about auto tune, expensive producers, and tear drenched woe is me love songs; this is music as it was meant to be heard; pure.

Our musical journey with Bridge and Tunnel begins wit the impassioned, “Wartime Souvenirs.” A near delicate series of notes intro the song for us with Jeff [the male vocalist] calling out as if he was shouting from a wooden crate on the corner for any and every ear that will give him a moment of time. It’s a rough rocker with the feel of the original demos from Brand New meet the Get Up Kids, but with a stronger sense of urgency that just sucks you into the disc. This then leads us to, “Call To The Comptroller’s Office,” which is the first truly perfect song the band offers us. Fading in to pounding drums and accented strumming, Jeff rings out,in metaphors that seem to be related to everything from love to life in general. We also get to hear Tia sing out for the first really apparent time and it’s simple beautiful the way their voices collide. The chorus is especially key here because it changes from driven rock to a very mellow buildup laced with heavy bass lines and strings. Nothing feels forced and ti just flows wonderfully. “Night Owls,” The following track, showcases Rachel taking over vocal duties. This helps the track shine on it’s own and not get stuck in the shadow of the previous track. The gang vocals starting each verse, matched with the bouncy beat make this a surefire fan favorite.

Following these three mainly upbeat songs, “White collar Crime Scene,” seems to take a turn for the mellow, but just as you settle in, we find Jeff come crashing through fury in his voice. The song showcases some great guitar work and let’s us know there’s more to Bridge and Tunnel than just deep lyrics and playing as loud as possible. Also, the chorus is a bit more relaxed and that makes it more approachable from a sing along stand point, which will definitely set this up for a live show staple. “Rubrics,” once again shows us some solid guitar work before falling into a more relaxed, bass laced track that’s extremely technical musically. It’s a great change of pace for the band and keeps things fresh as we enter the halfway point of the record. Literally splitting the record track wise is, “Dear Sir,” which begins with a disjunct introduction that makes it seem like the drums and guitars are attempting to feel each other out and then sync up for the verses. The really flory we find here is in the chorus area where the guitar simply takes off into a driving raw sound that’s captivating. Well, the gang vocals [fist pumping inducing] and the swirl of Jeff and Tia are great as well and seal this as the second truly perfect song we’ve found. Now most bands can’t get a perfect song in a single album, but in my opinion, Bridge and Tunnel do it multiple times with ease on this record.

The back half of the disc is kicked off with, “Town Hall Gathering,” which is very relaxed and led by Rachel’s voice in a very fragile state. Vocally, this track shows a lot of emotional ranger for the group with Tia being soft and delicate before Jeff’s more confident tones come pumping in to add more intensity to the track before it picks up the pace and builds into a more moderately paced rock track. Following this is the epic, yet instrumental, “The World Series,” and then the technical yet intense, “Grace for These Wayward Hearts.”There’s a moment on, :Grace,” where everything drops out except Tia and it’s in that moment you realize how captivating this band truly is. Here we are, nine tracks in, and I still find myself going, “wow.” Now that my jaw is once again upon the floor, we find ourselves on, “Down For My People like Joe Carroll,” which reflects on the past without all the hope most songs keep laced within such topics. Bridge and Tunnel don’t deceive us to believe they think everything is okay, no, they tell us how they really feel and that’s invigorating. This monster of a rock track leads us into the truly large scale closer, “As Close As I Can.” This track has everything from subtle beginning to screaming heights. Even Tia wails and escapes the fragility we found her in earlier on the record. This song has live show closer written all over it and thus it fits perfectly here. The whole albums builds and traverses large musical landscapes and all that is summed up in three and a half minutes. It’s a final battle cry to continue on and lucky for us, we have repeat, so we can start all over again.

I get at least a dozen albums a week here at UTG and to say Bridge and Tunnel blindsided me would be an understatement. It was by chance that I stumbled across a video of them performing acoustically online and I instantly knew there was something to this band I had to know more about. East/West is a timeless rock record coming out in a time when music is being made to last long enough to make the production costs back. If you want to hear a truly perfect, raw, passionate rock record; this is it. Don’t pass it up and think you’ll catch the next one because these kind of albums don’t come out every month. No, this is the kind of record we, if lucky, get every couple of years. I can’t think of any other way to explain it. Buy this record and discover the glory that is Bridge and Tunnel.

*Written By: James Shotwell*
GRADE: 10/10

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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