Walk Off the Earth
R.E.V.O.
Release Date: Mar 19, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Columbia
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Album Review: R.E.V.O. by Walk Off the Earth
Very Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 5/5
Teamwork isn't a problem for these Canadians, as the 147 million people who saw their YouTube cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" can verify; in it, the five-piece hunch around a single guitar, subletting individual frets and strings. Their debut feels equally crowdsourced for maximum popularity, but fractures under its many moods: half heartedly scornful rap rock ("Sometimes"), teen-baiting party anthems ("R.E.V.O."), spare pop about breezy road trips and coconut cocktails ("Summer Vibe"). A handful of tracks are unified in their balance of plush harmonies and folksy guitar breaks – and the group, at last, seems to be in merry agreement.
Based on rating 8/10
Canada's Walk Off the Earth hit the world's cultural radar with a stunning video cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" that featured the bandmembers (Ryan Marshall, Gianni Luminati, Mike Taylor, Joel Cassady, and Sarah Nicole Blackwood) all playing one guitar at once, and it garnered some 70 million views on YouTube in two months, an astounding testament to the Internet's immense dispersal and distribution power. R.E.V.O. (an acronym for the band's motto, Realize Every Victory Outright) is Walk Off the Earth's third album, but given the limelight they now find themselves in, it will undoubtedly serve as most folks' introduction to this wonderful, intriguing, and conceptually accomplished band.
Based on rating 3/5
WALK OFF THE EARTH play April 12 at the Danforth Music Hall. See listings. Rating: NNN Burlington's Walk Off the Earth have achieved household-name status (in some households anyway) based on the success of their YouTube channel - in particular their five-people, one-guitar version of Gotye's ubiquitous Somebody That I Used To Know. (Gimmicky, yes, but it's also a great performance and recording.) But if people are discovering artists through cover songs on YouTube, what's the point of making an album? WOTE use the opportunity to showcase original material.
Based on rating 4/10
In the past couple of years mainstream radio has shown that it’s willing to once again to embrace pop/rock bands, singer/songwriters and other artists who have spent several years banished to the fringes from the way of club-ready anthems. As unlikely as it would have been only a short while back, we’ve now got the likes of Gotye and Fun. being responsible for some of the very biggest songs of the year.
Opinion: Excellent
You’d think it would be easy to write off Walk Off The Earth as some hippie folk band, but there is nothing easy about them. Although the band gained popularity after covering Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know,” R.E.V.O. proves the Canadian five-piece have quite a bit more up their sleeves. With three vocalists and enough instruments to form their own campfire orchestra, WOTE create quirky folk-rock that mixes in pop melodies (“Red Hands”), alt-country guitar parts (“Money Tree”), a bit of reggae (“Sometimes”) and of course, plenty of ukelele and gang vocals.
'R.E.V.O.'
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