Dynamos – Shake, Rattle, and Roll
URL: https://www.dynamosmusic.com/
The Los Angeles based five piece band Dynamos have released a new single, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, that realizes the promise listeners encounter with the band’s first release, an EP entitled Cold Comfort, while also showing off their growth. The band’s presentation is complete, but centered on lead vocalist Nadia Elmistikawy, a New Jersey transplant whose opera training as a young girl and following forays into musical education shapes her passionate voice with underrated artfulness. “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” has a strong rock and roll spirit mingled with a meaningful measure of blues and Elmistikawy’s singing complements the instruments without ever depriving the individual players of any chance to shine. Dynamos bring a modern rock sound to listeners that make use of the past while still raging with youthful vitality. It all comes together for an impressive release that further makes this young band’s growing reputation.
Nadia Elmistikawy’s singing, discussed in the introduction, is particularly notable thanks to its balance. The varied emotive and physical approaches that she brings to phrasing the lyrics stands out in a pack of modern singers, regardless of genre, who tend to approach their performances from a technical point of view, making sure to hit their marks, rather than an artistic one. You can hear how Elmistikawy molds her voice so that it responds appropriately to the movement of the arrangement. These two elements come together with such seamlessness that’s all but impossible to not find yourself quickly drawn into the song. She doesn’t enter the track immediately but, when she does, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” takes off into the stratosphere. It’s also entertaining to hear how her vocals seem to be teetering, sometimes, on the verge of a full on yowl, but yet she always holds it together and that hint of pending chaos nicely dovetails into the desire fueling the song’s lyrics.
The introduction, defined by drums and bass peppered by well timed guitar rave-ups, sets the stage for the full throttle approach to come. When the band kicks in for real, the effect is huge. The production gives them an enormous, gritty sound that’s nonetheless quite light on its feet thanks to the sharp rhythm section work. It takes immense skill for any collection of musicians to bring such a rugged mood to bear while still striking the right emotional note. A big reason why Dynamos are capable of such an achievement is thanks to how much blues influences shape what they do. “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” from this Los Angeles band is a wild and wooly number with a dramatic structure and proves this unit has the special array of qualities required for them to gain mainstream notice and that’s undoubtedly on the way. They play and sing like they mean every note and word without ever once veering off course and showing huge confidence along the way. Dynamos are, simply, dynamite.
YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H3fetuG0A4&feature=youtu.be
Michael Saulman