Yes, people seem to love Rocky Votolato. I haven't heard that much of his solo work, but I hate to say that it honestly doesn't grab me that much. Maybe I need to listen to it more or something, coz a lot of people who's taste I respect reckon they're rad.
Yes, half this is band is the Votolato brothers. This DOES grab me. Oh how this grabs me. This is groin grabbingly good. 'Lush, orchestrated rock' (I read that somewhere). Maybe it's those big open E and C chords. Maybe it's Rocky's voice. This record actually inspired me to go out and buy a cheap guitar and actually start learning to play one of them six stringed things instead of my usual four or five. Most people I've played this to say something along the lines of "I wish I could write songs this good".
Understated is a probably a good word to describe this recording. Waxwing don't just write good riffs. They take care to make their arrangemetns sound different and interesting. And the last, acoustic song is so good you wanna cry. I dunno how good these guys are live, but on record, it's all you need in beautiful, emotional songs. This is what 'emo' should be. Plainly put, it's just a beautiful record.
"Sigh".