The Muhlenberg Weekly

Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: Life!

When you ask student Ryan Acquaotta '09 to pinpoint the style of his band, he admits the answer is not rock-solid; their music, however, is. "We don't have a style yet--but I feel that when you create enough original material, a style arises from it." A large crowd got a taste of this style-in-the-making process on Saturday night at The Eighth Sea's concert in The Red Door. The performance opened with one-of-a kind act The Late Cretaceous, a new, acoustic-rock group on campus wittily dedicated to paleontology. Cretaceous, appropriately clad in dinosaur propaganda, helped usher in The Eighth Sea's second appearance at the College.

The Eighth Sea borrows from multiple genres to create an edgy sound that is distinctly their own--infused with classic rock, hip hop and even some fantastic strands of jazz. Their playlist varies from original songs to covers of popular favorites. "We have a lot of idols and like to play their music--and we also like to learn from them," noted Acquaotta at the performance. They incorporate a healthy balance between up-tempo and mellow material like covers of Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" and originals such as their own "No Name Street," to more serious compositions like their self-composed "Allentown" (no relation to the Billy Joel single!) and covers like The Doors political "Peace Frogs." Ladies will appreciate some of the more romantic lyrics of the band's jazzier pieces, but guys don't fret, there's plenty of rock infused into the playlist.

In many college-bands you often run into the common dilemma of solid instrumental rifts but lackluster vocals, or a great lead vocalist with no band to back him up. The Eighth Sea, however, has the whole package. Acquaotta (many may recognize his voice from the Acafellas) doesn't falter in delivering energetic vocals throughout the concert. The guy can pull off quite a range of styles, from the band's cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" to the softer tunes of the group's original acoustic pieces. The instrumentalists deliver as well. Members Chris Hanson (guitar), Oren Levi (bass), Samuel Fishman (drums) and Dianna-Lynne Hsu (keyboard), as well as Fishman's brother Jeremy making several appearances on the saxophone, keep the beat fresh and interesting.

This was The Eighth Sea's second performance at Muhlenberg; however, this group is not new to the music scene. "We've been playing music for a really long time. We've been writing music since sophomore year," stated Acquaotta. The group of musicians began performing at school functions and bars, and even recorded their first seven-track album, Mood Swings, in spring of 2005. They hope to add more performances and recordings to the repertoire. In fact, Acquaotta envisions the group performing at a full-time level after college.

"I would be great to keep this up as a profession," he stated. With each school year that passes, each member brings back something innovative and new from their campus.

"Our influences--there are too many too list," explained Acquaotta. "We all have really different styles. But we work all of our influences in."

To learn more about the band, view pictures, find out about their next performances and hear sound clips, check out their MySpace.com page or check out their group on the ever infamous Facebook.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools