Charming Arson discover a vibrant psych-pop joy on ‘Another Kind of Vision’

The colorful new EP from the Boston alternative rock quartet blasts out of the cosmic speakers on Friday, September 20

MEDIA PREVIEW: Listen to ‘Another Kind of Vision’ via Soundcloud’

Record release party set for October 4 at The Jungle in Somerville   

BOSTON, Mass. [September 20, 2024] – It’s often said that the third time’s a charm, but it’s rarely discussed why. For Charming Arson, set to release new EP Another Kind of Vision on Friday, September 20, two weeks before showing it off on stage October 4 at The Jungle in Somerville, this third record from the Boston alternative rock and power-pop band represents a musical vision fully realized and a sonic palette properly expanded. 

Like the quartet’s music itself, a psychedelic trip of expansive sounds that transports the listener from one place to another, usually within the same blossoming song, the journey Charming Arson took to get here in assembling this kaleidoscopic six-song EP is just as fascinating as the destination. 

And at the core, under all the harmonies and melodies and hooks and riffs, is a sense of joy, a feeling that takes anecdotes of modern life with inspirations of yesterday to craft a cohesive and vibrant record that not only stares back at the listener, but provides a cushion for the inevitable fall deep within the band’s blooming world.  

“It’s important to me that the lyrics express a sense of exuberance and of joy,” says Charming Arson vocalist and guitarist David Cameron. “I’m not talking about ‘the sun is shining and I’m in love’ kind of joy, but a deeper spiritual joy that I believe lives in the core of every human being, whether you know it or not. It will always be chic for lyrics to be dark and brooding — and more power to the ones who do that honestly. But there’s also room, and a thirst, for music and lyrics to reach the untapped joy within.”     

That’s at play across Another Kind of Vision’s six blossoming tracks, including the rollercoaster power-pop of May single “Saving Chelsea,” the groove-train swagger of June’s “Inside You I See Everyone,” a homage to the Indian saint Ramana Maharshi that provides the lyric inspiring the record’s title; and the punchy opener and July table-setter “Hey, Policeman!”, inspired by the Breaking Bad character ASAC Hank Schrader. 

Combined with three new offerings, including the psychedelic yacht rock of “The Golden Teachers,” a song inspired by a popular strain of magic mushrooms, and aided by a video by Harvard University digital animator Ruth Lingford, which arrives this month, the EP is taking Charming Arson to new creative territories. That’s heard clearly on the street-walking and confrontational “Subway” and EP closer “Magic Alex Knows,” a theatrical tribute to Alexis Mardas, the huckster engineer who once famously duped The Beatles.  

Part of that arrival into this new territory is rooted in the band’s now locked-in lineup, which surrounds band leader and visionary Cameron with a trio of like-minded players raised on British Invasion, guitar heroes, and a penchant for big, catchy choruses: New guitarist and keyboardist Stefano Bellezza (whose solo on “Saving Chelsea” earned more than a few radio and media endorsements); recent bass recruit Aaron Clark (who joined in time for Cabaré Apocalypse, their 2023 sophomore EP), and drummer Dave Gould, who co-founded Charming Arson with Cameron during the pandemic after the duo rekindled the musical chemistry that first formed in late-‘90s alternative and prog rock trio Zoot. 

“We are now at the point as a band where if one person leaves, it wouldn’t be like getting a new baritone for the choir,” Cameron admits. “Each person has made such an indelible impression on this album that any new member would radically change the band. Each person’s musical personality shines and defines the sound. That’s a nice – and delicate – place to be!” 

And that speaks to the journey each song takes from the writing sessions to their recording, where each of the six tracks were engineered, mixed, and mastered by Alex Garcia-Rivera at his all-analogue Mystic Valley Studios in Medford, Massachusetts. 

“David comes along with a pretty well-developed song, then each one of us contributes parts and more ideas,” says Bellezza. “Personally, I will let the song talk to me and help me decide if it's going to be a guitar or a keyboard song, and the sort of solo I should write. This is my first original project in decades, so I am more on a quest to find out who I am musically than trying to make any bold statements; David, on the other hand, is out to say something, and I will do whatever in my power to help get his message across.” 

That message is reflected in the EP’s title, which is from the song “Inside You I See Everyone.” “See all that’s given / Look inside, there’s another kind of vision.” It’s not solely an existential and spiritual impulse behind the lyric, but it also a clarion call for where the Charming Arson is right here and right now. 

“We are seeing our music differently,”  Cameron declares. “And by that I don’t simply mean expanding our repertoire – which we do – but I think we’ve gone deeper into the soul of these songs. Some of that goes to the digital vs. analogue experience. With digital you naturally think ‘what else can I do, what else can I add?’ because the options are infinite. Analogue is finite, so rather than thinking in terms of width, we had to think in terms of depth. When these songs are taken as a whole, listened to in sequence, there is a soulful quality here that I really feel goes deeper than what we’ve done in the past.” 

And part of that is the visual component. Another Kind of Vision is aided with EP artwork by Clark’s daughter Mika, who doodled the colorful, textured pattern while sitting in a college class.   

“We were at the studio mixing,” Cameron reveals, “and Aaron showed me the image on his phone and said, ‘I think we have our album cover!’ There was no debate. This colorful psychedelic art with the eye at the center was a perfect depiction of the album title.” 

The aforementioned video for “The Golden Teachers” continues to bring Charming Arson’s glowing sound into panoramic view. “I was talking to Lingford at a social gathering,” Cameron said, “and she was telling me about a project she’s working on involving retirement-age people and their use of psychedelics. I know that she has also animated music in the past. I immediately told her about the song ‘The Golden Teachers’ and about my personal passion for psychedelics, and pretty much begged her to animate this song. She worked on it with her son George who is also an artist. She sent it to me, and it blew me away. At that moment about two-thirds in when the flowers descend – I almost cried it was so beautiful.” 

The clip has a deeper meaning as well, as around the 1:40 mark, at the lyric “The woman of the winds and the water and the paths,” an image of Maria Sabina appears. Sabina was a Mexican shaman and the conduit through which magic mushrooms were introduced to Western culture. “She was an amazing person, and her sudden ‘fame’ came at a great cost to her — she even lost a child because of it,” Cameron adds. “I’m glad she’s honored here, and I think for anyone who has experienced any level of personal transformation through magic mushrooms, a word of gratitude to Maria Sabina is a holy thing.” 

Those elements complement the music, and help elevate Charming Arson’s presentation as a band with a startling depth to their music. But it’s also fun, and eminently listenable on a purely surface-level approach. But peer a little deeper, and the curtain begins to lift.    

“Rock music needs to be fun and irreverent and risky,” Cameron concludes. “But it also needs to reflect what’s most human and organic. We often want music to help us peer behind the veil. I believe we’ve gone a bit more deeply into that sensibility.” 

The third time, as they say, is a charm. Just ask Charming Arson. 

Charming Arson is: 

Stefano Bellezza: Lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards

Dave Cameron:  Lead vocals, rhythm guitar 

Dave Gould: Percussion, backing vocals

Aaron Clark: Bass guitar, backing vocals

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‘Another Kind of Vision’ production credits:

Written and performed by Charming Arson

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Alex Garcia-Rivera at the all-analog Mystic Valley Studio in Medford

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‘Another Kind of Vision’ artwork:

Charming Arson short bio:

There’s no difference between a great song and a great story. Both should thrill you and alter how you see the world. That’s the vision of Charming Arson. This Boston-based alt-rock power-pop quartet wants to excite your imagination and feed your mind. Soaring guitar licks and expressionist lyrics are the yin and yang in their songwriting alchemy. The song as story; the story as song. 

Charming Arson was hatched over a few beers at The Burren in Somerville, MA in February 2020, when Dave Cameron and Dave Gould decided to rekindle their musical flame. Both had played together in the late ‘90s in Zoot, an alt/prog-rock trio that worked the Boston scene hard until the untimely death of their guitarist, John Haley. Cameron and Gould parted musical ways, but never stopped talking about how they would one day fire up the tubes. Years later, brooding in that Irish pub over empty pint glasses and the mellifluous yearnings of ​​uilleann pipes, they realized they were idiots for not doing this ten years earlier. 

First band practice occurred on March 5, 2020, which just so happened to coincide with an up-and-coming respiratory virus named after America’s #5 selling beer. For the next 18 months, as the Cervecería Modelo brewing company launched a marketing counteroffensive, band practice consisted of Zoom meetings and GarageBand file transfers. In the summer of 2021, the band, now a four piece, convened at Quiethouse Recording and recorded their first EP/album, Breathe in Joy. One year, six songs, and a few shows later, the band returned to Quiethouse for their follow up, Cabaré Apocalypse. “Haley, you’re my comet,” dedicated to Zoot’s late-guitarist, was the first single. 

Charming Arson’s current lineup is Stefano Bellezza on lead guitar; Dave Cameron on guitar and lead vocals; Aaron Clark on bass; and Dave Gould on drums. Everyone sings backing vocals, especially Clark. 

Charming Arson leans into their commitment to melodic guitar rock aimed straight at your poetic imagination. Your spiritual imagination too. It’s all part of the same muse that draws you to what makes you feel alive. Glad to be alive. That’s where this band can take you. Make it loud. Make it beautiful. 

Media praise for Charming Arson:

“Boston has one of the best power pop scenes in the world, and our newest favorite is Charming Arson. While most Boston power pop tends to be a hybrid with garage rock, ‘Saving Chelsea’ mixes in more of an alt-rock sound. This is actually reminding me a lot of the mid-90's Boston rock scene, right after Letters to Cleo and Juliana Hatfield broke and it was being called the next Seattle. It has that kind of sound mixed with the giant guitar heroics of Cheap Trick. At times it even throws further back to the 60's with some Archies style melodies. Charming Arson are borrowing from some of the best periods of power pop, and we could not be more here for it.” _If It’s Too Loud

“Immediate and urgent to start, ‘Saving Chelsea’ from Boston’s Charming Arson is that most wonderful anthem that plays during the hippest Indie throwback coming-of-age dramedy ode to the ’80’s or ’90’s yet to be made. Get all that? You will.” _Rock And Roll Fables

“Really great songs have a way of finding their way into your heart and soul, this is most definitely the case with ‘Saving Chelsea’ from Charming Arson.” _The Whole Kameese

“Charming Arson has heard The Who and knows how both Roger and Pete sing. And so a mix comes together of 1990s Buffalo Tom and 1970s The Who with a guitar solo that could have been played by Craig Chaquico of all people. What starts out as a song of which many have come before, by the 15 seconds turns into a bigger and bigger song. …Listening to Saving Chelsea once again, I find that I'm even more impressed by how the song develops. This is rock and roll for the 20s alright. Later in the year the band will release an EP. I can only say I'm looking forward if the songs are this good.” _WoNoBlog

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