New Jersey Stage Issue 58 | Page 131

them. Maybe kids today will light up their cell phones when Vendet- ta Rose play May 3 at The Brighton Bar with Wasting Moonlight. There they’ll also hear the Guns N’ Roses-like “Over and Under,” a battle against an addicted abus- er, and the EP’s closer “Human Glass,” which features particularly fine phrasing by Demello that weaves in and out of tasty guitar and piano solos. In a summation of the themes of the EP, that tune is about winning and losing in life and the price you pay to play. The New Black were emerging as a national act from Middlesex County when a 2009 car accident left guitarist Gabriel Hurley blind. But you never would know that from his playing on the trium- phant new album, Coming Home, the closing title track of which is a gorgeous acoustic guitar duet be- tween Hurley and Daniel Downing within an otherwise painful look at the depression and loneliness left by a dearly departed loved one. Throughout Coming Home, The New Black remind me of the me- Watch a video for “Over and Under” by Vendetta Rose NJ STAGE - ISSUE 58 INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 131