The habits of the college-aged loner musician, quiet and slightly rebellious by nature, are as strange and motley as the reclusive race itself.  Where do these angst-ridden youth congregate?  Why do they belabor already evident social dilemmas?  How do they reproduce?

All of these answers were promptly answered with the UAF student album "Episodes in DadGad," produced by undergraduates Raif Coe and Aram Wool.  What these maturing artists lack in experience they surely make up for in passion and irrefutable, albeit undeveloped talent. 

"We were originally part of a band, 'Sinuous,' that played at April's Battle of the Bands in 2002.  [We] since have broken up," reports Wool, the CD's producer.  

Coe, Wool, and other members of the dismembered entourage first met in high school.  "Raif [had] serious talent.  His work on the acoustic guitar was intricate.  [It] didn't really didn't fit into the 'pop' format," says Wool.

Coe and Wool, having remained together to create the hour-long CD over a period of roughly six weeks, present a product that can be encouraging labeled: promising.

Starting off with a fairly smooth and enticing acoustic guitar track, "Episodes" lays out the welcome mat in full.  Seemingly confident within the staccato style, Coe is reluctant to embrace dense melody in exchange for a softer chord alternation.  Producer Wool remarks, "[Coe] had no formal training.  It just seemed innate with him.  His riffs are sometimes incredibly intricate."

Brimming on slightly repetitive by halftime, "Episodes" does its best to alternate moods with Wool's intermittent piano solos and accompaniments.  While the piano segments are quite a bit rougher, they certainly provide a welcome coloring to the eventual hypnosis of gentle guitar acoustics.

Coe could best be described as possessing a firm, yet muted energy.  The CD makes for excellent background music, but never oversteps its bounds as to fully declare itself noteworthy.  The foundation is certainly there, yet Coe and Wool still seem to lack any real faith in bringing that talent to the forefront.

A testament to student ingenuity, Wool utilized KUAC studios to record and tweak the majority of the album.  "I primarily used Adobe Audition as well as Propellerhead Reason (both incredibly versatile and accessible consumer products)," admits Wool.

Wool is currently seeking to gain a wider audience for the debut CD.  In addition to a possible College Coffeehouse display, those interested can contact the masterminds at agesmelt@dublin.com for more information.

With a little luck and a dump truck full of authentic suffer sweat, Raif may just be able to break free from the black hole stereotype that is 20-something struggling artists and produce an array of progressively superior works worthy of actual money.  We'll see Raif...we'll see.

Band: Raif

Album: Episodes in DadGad

Artists:  Raif Coe and Aram Wool

Info: agesmelt@dublin.com 

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