Life > September 27, 2007

By Kyle Lawrence | Contributing writer

After losing his job in a dot-com bust in 2002, Zach Schwartz, known as Zach Rogue, left his home in San Francisco and headed for New York with spontaneity and unabashed ambition reminiscent of Jack Kerouac’s journeys that shaped his novel, On the Road.

Unlike Kerouac, Zach Rogue did not write prose, but rather returned from his trip with an entire album’s worth of recorded material, which Zach later recorded as the debut album Out of the Shadow.

In finishing the album, Zach collaborated with other musicians to form the band Rogue Wave.

After traveling and performing in 2003 with indie staples such as Spoon and Mates of State, Rogue Wave released Descended Like Vultures in 2005.

Though the album was released to little fanfare or anticipation, it soon gained acclaim and formally cemented the band as a substantive indie power.

With the release of Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, the band’s recent follow-up album, Rogue Wave has its first opportunity to build upon its earlier success and prove to critics that Descended Like Vultures was not some indie epiphany.

From the opening song, “Harmonium,” of Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, it’s clear that Rogue Wave has matured in its musical talents. Rogue Wave’s use of instrumentation here gives driving simplicity rather than a quagmire of clutter.

The song’s emotional range is impressive; sweeping, epic, U2-esque rock transcends to personal, haunting vocal harmonization, and the effect is grandiose.

The rest of the album holds under scrutiny as well. Rogue’s voice, when not serving in ethereal harmonies, harkens to the folksy Ryan Adams on songs like “Christians in Black” and “Missed.” The emotions invoked in such instances border between sadness and beautiful admiration, but leave one nonetheless satisfied.

Other notable songs include “Lake Michigan,” with its creative drum and bass line and typically indie use of clapping, and “Phonytown” where Rogue Wave bursts out of its typical role and turns jam band, a la Lynyrd Skynyrd or the more recent My Morning Jacket.

Still, with all Rogue Wave’s creative instrumentation and song-writing, first-time listeners may be set off by the distinctly different version of rock, as Rogue Wave presents a brand of music that may be labeled, by some, as an acquired taste. Nonetheless, certain songs on the album present themselves as fitting songs for studying and others fitting for certain emotions.

As an album, though, Asleep at Heaven’s Gate explores an eclectic set of emotions from the surreal to the sublime, and does so in a musically accomplished manner with regards to instrumentation and vocalization.