AURICAL

Something to Say

auricalmusic.com

Rachel Rossos and Michael Gallant are classically trained musician-composers with incredibly diverse résumés. She’s written orchestral works and performed at Lincoln Center, while he’s scored plays and jammed with Phish’s Page McConnell and Herbie Hancock (full disclosure: Gallant is a contributor to M Music and Musicians). Aurical finds the duo in pop-rock mode, and their cleverness comes through right away. “Brahms of Philosophy” is a Blondie-style rocker about a college professor brilliant enough to warrant comparison to the titular German composer. Elsewhere they try polite funk (“Leave It All Behind”), coffeehouse soul (“I’ve Never Known”) and even grunge-lite rock (“Julianna”). They may be deliberately playing below their considerable abilities, but they’re having too good a time for anyone to accuse them of slumming.