“Yes! Worth it! Worth the $12,” my friend Andrew said to me after Smokey Brights left Neumos unquestionably bumpin’ last Saturday.

In case you haven’t heard of them yet, Smokey Brights are a Seattle 5-piece whose best description might be contained within the implication of their name itself. Songs that are soaked with warm, rich tones pouring out from a hollow body electric along with glistening melodies and vocal performances that command your attention throughout their time on stage. All backed with tight rhythms.

At the show, lead singer Ryan Devlin quickly shook off any stiffness that lingered over the crowd with his mic test banter of “meats and sweets, m-e-a-t-s and s-w-e-e-t-s”. If you didn’t suck, you smiled. With the soft, mystic-like sound of a shaker and a sweet ambient bass line, the show began. The large and pulsating sound of the band, along with Deviln’s confident stage presence, invited you to indulge in the catchy and tactfully crafted songwriting. Sitting at the core of the songs’ pulse is the rhythm section that is James Vermillion on bass and Nick Krivchenia on drums. The two have been playing together for years (check out their two piece project Armed With Legs) and have developed a tightness and freight-train ferocity in their parts that shakes your rib cage and forces you to welcome that undeniable feeling that makes you clench your fist in success of the moment because of these perfectly executed grooves.

Smokey Brights participate in the sort of Americana songwriting that we see popping up all over Seattle lately, except describing it as typical is far from the truth. With Smokey Brights, the conviction they have in their own songs and the quality of their musicianship, allows them to take the typical and transform it to the undeniably good. The frosting of it all comes when the entire chorus of voices locks into harmony for one of the band’s infectious melody lines, seizing the moment from whatever else is happening on stage. The band is particularly good at knowing when to incorporate these moments in a song to help take it to the next level of intensity, such as in the closing moments of their ballad “Waiting On A Light“. At their Neumos show, Smokey Brights ended with a newer tune called “Beg, Borrow, and Steal” that’s sure to be a standout on what ever recording it ends up on. The tune guided the audience into the rest of their evening, offering something to hum for the remainder of their week.

Smokey Brights’ first and only recording “Can’t rightly Say”, is 8 songs of soul-pop riffs, tasty solos, and driving rhythms. In this recording, Ryan Devlin’s vocals are brilliantly mixed, full of clarity and the right touch of reverb, allowing the listener to connect with the soft nuances, girth, and warmth that helps define the lead singer’s sound.

This one scores a “R-A-W-K” out of the “R-A-W-K-D” scale. Check it out for yourself on www.smokeybrights.bandcamp.com. You can also check out the above-mentioned song, “Beg, Borow, and Steal”.

–Dominic Cortese, music writer, The Monarch Review