Mike Mineo

The Locals' "The Willful Suspension of Disbelief" is immediately engaging; powerful and crisp-clear vocals appear almost immediately over a powerful percussive punch, synth arpeggios, and guitar crunches. This is bound to immediately draw listeners in. Moving on, the chorus appearing around the one-minute mark is fantastic; it combines the dazzling enthusiasm of '80s rock with a more modern-minded indie/synth-pop hybrid. The playful synth bridges throughout, like at the 02:17 mark, reminds me fondly of The Cars and Blondie -- that sort of hook-y commendable rock/pop. Led by a killer chorus that repeats in anthemic form throughout, "The Willful Suspension of Disbelief" is a very infectious track that won't have any problems getting on the radio or blog coverage. No criticisms here. Look out for a feature on http://obscuresound.com in the near future, and reach out to me at mike@obscuresound.com if interested in hearing about my digital PR servicing. -Mike

Gabriel Candiani

nice are you the producer? 

Ari Herstand

The outro over the last minute gave me chills! I LOVE it. 

I want to see you live. Badly. Let me know when you're in LA - or hopefully we'll cross paths on the road sometime. 

I like the non traditional structure of the song. The tones are great all around: bass, guitars, drums, synth. And the singer kills it! Such great energy and attitude. 

My biggest complaint is I don't understand the lyrics. I like lyrics I can latch onto. Every great song has at least one line that people will remember. The only line I remember after listening 3 times "And if you really want to go and if you really want to shine bellissimo." Not really sure what that means. The vox are a bit buried in the mix - which works for this style, but there's no place I can find the lyrics to reference. I recommend including them on your SoundCloud and in the Description when you submit to others on Fluence. What does Bellissimo mean? Beautiful right? What's the story behind this? 

You should make a music video for this song. It's indie blog gold.

The production is stellar all around. Perfectly matches the style of the music. Great mix. Great song. Can't wait to hear more. I just signed up on your email list and followed you on Spotify.

Drew Thurlow

This song has a cool vibe. I like the production; they've clearly recorded before. Good tones on the guitar and fuzzy bass sounds. Where I think it could be better is with dynamics. The "up" parts could be "bigger". I also didn't hear really memorable hooks, although admittedly I don't listen to music like this too often and it could be a taste thing. I do love the old time-ey footage interspersed with the band. It adds a really cool classic aesthetic.