Review: Sun-Dried Vibes - Give Thanks

Personally, I never considered the implications of being sun-dried. That was only ever a designation reserved for Italian cuisine accoutrements. It sounds rather dour really. Being all dehydrated. South Carolina’s rock-reggae outfit Sun-Dried Vibes makes it out to be something (almost) completely different. Yeah you may be a little burned out, but only in the best way.

“With a positive mind you let your bright light shine,” sings Zach Fowler on “W.I.L.T.,” the group’s mission statement off the longplay, Give Thanks. And joined by Evan Tyler and Jono Cheverez, the three minds blend for an uplifting examination of a life spent living, not behind a desk.

Maybe it’s because we’re being convinced the only way to defeat the malaise is to flee to the 50th state, convincingly so by a group of guys from the South. Maybe because it’s 2016 and “Next Year” allows for a moment of escapism from whatever political fistfight we’re stuck in (Yeah, I’ll metaphorically turn a break-up song into a refuge from cable news, fight me. [Damnit, I’m part of the problem now.]). 

It’s everything in the fourteen tracks. Such as, “East Coast Rhythm.” We see Fowler and crew striping down the instruments and hitting the right chords with the addition of songstress Leigh Jackson, continuing to bridge the gap of a Cali-ready band working out of swampland. 

Basically, I’m never going to look at shriveled tomatoes the same again. What will I now find in them? Joy? Pleasure? If nothing else, possibly sweet relief from the mundanity of my fluorescent-soaked keyboard.

Check out Sun-Dried Vibes Give Thanks