Via Coma

Via Coma's new single, "Blame," effortlessly blends soaring instrumentals and high-low vocals, creating a sound that's persistent and driving, yet moody and atmospheric. It's alt-rock with something to say — and they're reinforcing their message with slamming percussion and tireless guitars. Give it a spin, and for a limited time, grab it as a free download. The song comes off the band's forthcoming debut album, Figures, set for a June 12 release. - Purevolume.com

Live 105 and Soundcheck congratulate our BFD 2012 local band winners.... VIA COMA of Lafayette, CA! - Live 105 - Twitter

Via Coma’s debut LP, Figures, was released this week and is rapidly ascending the ranks of my favorite releases of the year.
It gives me a bit of personal pride writing about a band from my hometown of Lafayette, California, and it’s especially fun since this is one hell of a debut.
They’re amassing a ton of buzz among sites like Absolute Punk, despite not having a label, and they definitely deserve the attention.
If you’re into acts like Brand New, Thrice (specifically the more experimental Thrice material, such as parts of the Alchemy Index) and Minus the Bear, you’ll probably like Via Coma. The band doesn’t adhere to rigid song structures, which is always something to be commended, instead opting for more ethereal, shape-shifting time signatures and melodies.
Figures is the type of record that may require repeated listens to fully appreciate, but when you do “get it”, it’s worth it. Songs like the opener, Aquanota, demonstrate what the band is all about: shimmery production, hauntingly resonant vocals, and a slow, deliberate pace accentuate the track, which has the same overall feel as Brand New’s The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me.

The vocals on Blame elevate it to an album highlight, with the refrain to everyone that I have failed/I’m sorry/You better know that we’re all to blame giving you an idea what it’s all about, thematically.
Other songs, like Stitches (featuring an excellent combination of keyboards, vocals, and guitars that give the song its melancholy feel), while Iron Horse is held afloat by its affectingly fluttery synth flourish and roboticized vocals.

More than anything, though, Figures is a full album experience – each song flows into the next seamlessly, enveloping the listener in a swirl of emotions, sounds, feelings, and technical precision that pay tribute to the band’s inspiration while also forging their own unique sound. It’s hard to directly classify this album, and if you know anything about my musical tastes, that’s about as high a compliment as I could give.
So yeah, check out Via Coma if you are in the mood for some fantastic new music, as Figures is a very impressive debut record, promising a very bright future for these guys. - Behind The Hype

Via Coma is one of those bands you just plain wish got more attention and with the release of Figures this week, our hopes just might just come true. Produced by Hawkboy/As Cities Burn’s masterminds Cody Bonnette and Aaron Lunsford, Figures performs a unique balancing act, often delving into Death Cab For Cutie territory with vocalist Rob Marshall crooning with the charm of Ben Gibbard but with a crescendo of new era Thrice. The record is moody, frequently jumping around between atmospheric ballads such as “Morning”, and then getting your foot tapping and head bobbing frantically with tracks like “Back and Forth”. Figures has an enjoyable eerie feel to it, enveloping all that is good about true musicianship. Here’s hoping a record like this gets the attention it deserves.

Via Coma

Figures

Review by Jameson Ketchum - Substream Music Press - Jameson Ketchum

It’s a chilly one in LA today. Rather odd since last week was a miserable sweaty mess. But alas, you cannot predict the weather…unless of course that’s your job. What you can predict though after hearing Via Coma’s Figures is that you’re in for a musical escape to a land that mirrors an avant-garde dream.

“Blame” claims “we’re all the blame,” and gives off an Angels and Airwaves scent, while “Stitches” has a softer approach and is like Humaana. The whole time this record played, it morphed into sounds you’d hear in movie scenes. “Morning” is a captivating dream sequence that’d make cinematographers blush. Then “Iron Horse” going the opposite way and offering itself up for the background of something a little darker. The eerie repetition of “iron horse” towards the end could be imagined in FX’s American Horror Story.

Most of the songs showcase drawn out progressions that lead up to a fascinating end that music fans will appreciate and if you’re in LA on June 23, you can catch Via Coma down at Amplyfi for an intimate show. Figures is out June 12th, so mark your calendars for that and their LA show…if you’re in the area or planning to visit. - Golden Mixtape

If you didn’t catch our interview with them back in January, Via Coma have released their debut full-length album Figures. The California trio has knack for creating a deeper emotional vision in each of their songs. With a refreshingly unique sound that blends piano with unpredictable guitar parts and the soft crooning of 3 part harmonies.
Comparisons are difficult, but may include parts of Matchbook Romance, Mars Volta and Muse.

Figures resembles a ‘haunted candyland’ of sorts. The melodies are rich and sweet while the the piano/guitar dynamics can create a curious darkness that’s irresistible. Via Coma pulls it off flawlessly. Iron Horse is a great example of such a song. The band explores new territories of sound with the beeping guitar and the stomping beat that is truly unique and resembles the amazing creativity of these guys.

But that’s not all!

The opening track Aquanota highlights the vocal highlights of the groups and the dynamic that introduces you into the realm that band operates in. It does down smooth as long as you “Take one a day/Demons away”. Which leads you right into Blame with a falsetto ridden chorus and alternating time signatures. Their single Stitches was released as a single before the album came out and has seen many incarnations as remixes were done by HAS! and Spacebrother (Jared Piccone of Innerpartysystem). The album exits on the 5 minute track All’s Well That Ends that asks “Are we stars?”.

There’s not enough good things to say about the originality of Via Coma. It’s a shining beacon of sound that stretches musical boundaries and expands the imagination. - Ampkicker.com

On an album that on the surface seems to be normal, yet engaging mellow indie-rock, California-based Via Coma’s full-length Figures seemingly has a... Transformers aspect to it, if you catch my drift. What’s peculiar about Figures lies in the teetering thoughts of theatrical influences, whether that lies in piano-laced processions like “Blame” or the arguable climax of said vibe “Iron Horse”, a track that is bold in its execution of stark, confident strikes of rhythm and dark melodies. It is a shame to the pop element of Figures to consider this an indie rock experimentation from front to back, but calling it a pop album isn’t quite right either – regardless of what grand melodies and bolstered production might make you consider in a listen to this album. Still, even for its underwhelming moments, Figures shines more than enough when its needs to, presenting a strong case for the band in their debut.

The success of Figures lies more though in the ability to musically rope us into something regardless of how layered or delicate it might come across. Half the time these tracks come across as slow starters, though a few jump right into things (“Blame”, “Back and Forth”) to alleviate the buildup until later on in said tracks. Nevertheless, Figures cues the indie mellows of Death Cab for Cutie (“Stitches”) and the viciously considered, often trance-inducing ripples of a screamless post-Piano Island Blood Brothers in “Iron Horse” to sprawl a landscape that peaks and valleys with each passing track. The strong production of the album only accentuates these moments, showing the strength of carefully pointed bolstering of melodies and rhythms without losing the glisten of said melodies and eluding piano lines in the process.

Whether it is harnessing upper register sizzles in “Back and Forth” or the interlaced vocal lines later in “Architects”, there’s definitely some interesting vocal work to push us as listeners to not fall prey to any sort of repetition or one-trick pony element of the vocals. Sometimes, they do leave us wishing for a little bit more considering what we’ve already heard, i.e. the beginning of “Architects”, but vocally this album does well enough to keep us guessing in terms of delivery without overusing its surprises (“Iron Horse”).

While not a radio-ready indie darling or a grand experiment with an everlasting effect on the genre, Via Coma’s willingness to transcend even themselves at times makes for a challenging, yet engulfing listen. Via Coma are often able to take their hypothesized creations to truly stunning heights, giving us something that incorporates a strongly balanced offering of trial versus tried and true. Figures might take a moment to truly sink in – but once it does, you might not be able to let go. - Absolute Punk - Jason Gardner

Writing music reviews requires the stretching of adjectives to somehow turn music into words. It’s an entirely inane process when trying to describe Via Coma’s EP, Bridges. How can I encapsulate, in words, the 20 minute EP without sounding pretentious and/or like I don’t know what I’m talking about? I have to use words like pastoral and orchestral and I have to make them mean something, yet they still fall flat. Trying to give voice to an EP so full of its own voice is just facetious. In fact I would like nothing more than for my readers to stop reading now and just go listen to the band. But for those who insist on letting words affect their decision to listen to Via Coma I will do my absolute best to do the band justice.

Via Coma is a five piece band hailing from Lafayette, California. Their first EP, entitled Bridges, is 20 minutes of progressive indie rock. First track “Turn” opens with singer and guitar player Rob Marshall’s resplendent vocals backed by a simple drum beat from Maxx Sherman and the cooing of pianist Jesse Kyle. When Marshall sings “Dawn, blushing rosy dawn,” it invokes nostalgia for experiences I’m not even sure I’ve had. The track oscillates from quick to slow and loud to quiet. Marshall’s voice reaches perfect falsettos only to drop back to the lower registers of his voice. Somehow the track teeters between a desperate urgency and a lush calmness but never loses focus. Second track, “Aquanota” has Marshall doing his best Casey Crescenzo impression and just as the track crescendos it leads into third track, “I, the Sovereign” which opens with a focus on Sherman’s drumming and Marshall’s voice starts subdued only to soar once the rest of the band picks up. Closer, “Architects” ends the album far too soon. The guitar work is intricate, Kyle provides the perfect, high-pitched backing vocals for Marshall and the track, again, showcases Via Coma’s instrumental proficiency and knack for melody. As the final piano keys round out the track I only wish there was more.

Every track on Bridges is laced with stunning melody and it becomes increasingly difficult to convey the beauty of each track as Via Coma have created a sound akin to a musical. It’s easy to forget that there is no accompanying string section as you are swept up by the orchestration. Marshall and Nic Gracia’s guitars are expansive, Cam Attaran’s bass is technical and complex (see the beginning of “I, the Sovereign), Kyle’s piano is gorgeous throughout, and Sherman’s drumming is holds it all together. Marshall’s lyrics are complex and intriguing, remaining beautifully vague but not unintelligible. His voice, like previously stated, is at times reminiscent of Casey from The Dear Hunter and Thomas Dutton from Forgive Durden. When Kyle’s voice is added to the mix the dynamic is astounding as they usually play falsetto against lower vocals.

It is almost impossible to not speak ostentatiously about Via Coma. There is no way a review can do them justice. No words can encapsulate the beauty in their 20 minute debut. I expect very bright things from this band in the future. They don’t concern themselves with formulas or trends, instead they have crafted one of the most breath-taking debuts from any band in recent memory and it is absolutely astonishing that they are unsigned. They are giving away their EP for free on their website and you would be remiss to not download it. - Absolute Punk - loveisa4lttrwrd