Road is Eric Payne,Conor Dowling, Joan Dyer Payne. Most of the songs were written in 2006 and played by Eric onto a Rolland VS2400. Some were recorded and co-written with friend and long time collaborater Conor Dowling. All of these songs were mixed and mastered by Kramer. The band is from Western Mass and getting ready to support the new cd. The new line up includes two drummers, two bassist, two guitist and a lot of people singing. Come see us. local buzz Mass.Live: Road (Merry Go Room Records) Thursday, December 28, 2006 By Casey Hayman In reviewing an album, one of the simplest ways to describe an artist's sound to your audience is by comparing them to existing well-known groups. Lazy? Sometimes, but when the comparisons are apt, it makes sense. Occasionally, though, you find a band or album that's not easy to compare to any existing group you know. Road, for me, is such a band, and their self-titled debut LP is such an album. I guess the best I can do is Yo La Tengo meets Ween. Helpful? Probably not. So, let's just call it spacey garage electro-pop and leave it at that. Either way, the point is that Road has a distinctly original sound, and it's exceptionally fun and intriguing to listen to. The band is the brainchild of Eric Payne, the group's main songwriter, but includes contributors Conor Dowling, Joan Cameron Dyer Payne, Sven Higgins and Valley all-star producer and multi-instrumentalist Jim Weeks. The album is a synthy, reverbed-out oddity that treads that dangerously thin line between lush orchestration and overproduction, but it comes out on the right side almost every time. Required listening? Check out the tripped-out slow jam "Photographic Memories" and the funky "Motor." But enough attempts at classification; just give Road a listen. If you like strange, beautiful things, you'll enjoy the ride. ©2006 The Republican© 2006 MassLive.com All Rights Reserved.