CD Review: Debut album is a solid effort
www.seacoastonline.com
By Christopher Hislop
May 06, 2010 2:00 AM

Cole & the Make Out Scene's "Gala was a Tiger" is a very impressive debut album chock full of indie pop goodness, showcasing the talent of bandleader M. Cole Gove, and his merry band of wanderers.

"Gala...;" contains 11 tracks of autobiographical luminescence, sometimes bright, other times dark, but consistently engaging. You're hard pressed to find a favorite cut here as each track flows seamlessly into the next, leaving you with nothing short of a 40+ minute testament of colorful, catchy song craft, bound, and packaged in a way that reads/sounds like a book.

The characters in Gove's Make Out Scene include Jesse Dold, Mark Gove, Courtney Brocks, Moses Lizotte, and Mercuryhat's Eric Ott, who, as a whole build the foundation and housing in which Gove's stories thrive and exude themselves unconditionally into the ether laid out by the music these fine craftsmen make.

Swirling, ambient guitar melodies are often heard behind Gove's acoustic guitar plucking, which push this music to the forefront of your senses, and keep you actively awaiting the next movement in the song/story/album. "Gala was a Tiger," contains 10 original tunes written by Gove, split, right down the middle by a tasteful Tom Paxton cover, "The Last Thing on my Mind."

Within the walls of Cole and the Makeout Scene's tunes you're bound to hear comparable traits to other "suffering" songsmiths who also wear their heart on their sleeves. Such comparisons are undeniable. You wouldn't be wrong if you heard a bit of Jason Anderson, Tim Cahill, and the Neutral Milk Hotel's, Jeff Mangum (among others) churning within the vocal delivery that Gove puts forth. In some instances you may even gather a moderate taste of Bon Iver, which adds a degree of sweet icing to this already superb treat.

As the record winds down, the song "Believe in me," hears Gove below "I can't change the song my heart sings / No I can't help the song my heart sings / For you / Believe in me / Believe in me...;"

Believe.

This is a solid effort, and further evidence that there are some seriously talented folks living amongst us here on the Seacoast.

Check out www.themakeoutscene.com for information.



Minor7th.com 
June 2010

Cole & The Makeout Scene
"Gala Was a Tiger,"

2010 If this is the future of contemporary folk -- we have much to look forward to. Singer / songwriter Cole Gove and his cosmic cowboy posse known as the The Makeout Scene -- guitarists Jesse Dold and Eric Ott, in-the-pocket electric bassist Moses Lizotte, and vocalist Courtney Brocks -- breathe life into the genre with a mesmerizing "documentation of the journey of life -- an ode to love and the fear of love..." Whatever their intentions GWAT (the title is based on Salvador Dali's life-long love Gala and the largest and most dangerous of the genus Panthera) grooves in all the right places. Tracks such as "Along" soar with harmonies rooted somewhere in classic Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys. Dold's guitar work on "Tiger Your Gone" and is the brilliant stuff of Tom Verlaine and Robert Fripp. "Goodnight My Love" would have been a nice track on the White Album. And that's just the first three songs... highly recommended for fans of Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels, Elliot Smith, and Lambchop. © Tom Semioli