This aptly titled song is a wondrous power ballad by Toronto based rock band, Ivory Tree Observatory. Such is the song’s power to capture the mind, I find myself overwhelmed with the sense of flight within the first few notes. As these delightful melodies continue, I imagine myself gazing downwards at vast majestic landscapes, where miniature people are waving at me. One of them is pointing and frantically jumping up and down. It appears to be some kind of warning.

Sure enough, the song takes a violent shift in mood and a torrent of chaos interrupts my flight. As the guitars thrash their way through a metal riff, I am now whirling around in a thunderstorm, desperately clinging onto my hot air balloon. Lucky for me, the unexpected storm is very brief, the sky clears, the guitars calm down and the song returns to its whimsical melodies. I loosen my grip, turn off the burner, and peer over the wicker basket. The miniature people have grown in size. A few of them begin to chase me as I begin to make my final descent. At that moment, the vocalist finishes the final note of the chorus and the song’s satisfying conclusion carries me to a safe landing.

Balloon Ride is one of the five songs from the band’s free demo which can be downloaded via their Myspace. Ivory Tree Observatory can be seen playing at Clinton’s Tavern (Toronto) this Thursday Feb. 7, 2008.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Canadian Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.