Brush Off the Dust on 8-Eyes

Dust, the third release from the Triangle-based group 8-Eyes is chock full of pop melodies and a slightly alterna-days sound. The album starts off promisingly with “Popoff”, a twangy, Trailer Bride-esque swamp flavored ditty which is followed by the title track, “Dust,” which is radio-ready and has hooks like Guided by Voices, but it’s at that point that the album begins its wild run of ill-advised song titles. Can you name your top five songs that mention Bruce Willis, Kim Novak AND Pamela Lee? Well, “Rich Hollywood Stars” is probably not in your top five, but what a good try nonetheless! All the songs, perhaps with the exception of the thick, vaguely spooky and rather unfortunate cover of “Livin’ La Vida Loca” come equipped with catchy, albeit slightly dated sounded melodies. Even the regrettably named “(It’s Not My Planet) Monkey Boy” that has an intro that sounds lifted from the Beatle’s classic, “Ticket to Ride,” is pop-y and comes included with crooning back up vocals. Hot sauce is served up on the side here, as all the vocals stay on the slightly Southern end of the spectrum and most songs have a deeply local feel.

8-Eyes seem like they the sort of act that would be a solid bet live – and you can find out at their gig at Liberty Steakhouse on January 31st.