Nashville – When I think of a live album, I think of the screaming crowd, the distorted sound, the difficulty hearing. It’s unusual for me to enjoy these types of albums simply because I find it overwhelming and annoying.

Dynamo has completely shifted this way of thinking for me with their debut live album, Live at Ocean Way (released on March 18^th). Performed and recorded in front of three different audiences at three different intervals made up of 40 people each time, it has a clarity and perfection not often found in live-recorded performances (having only 40 people present for a live album recording rather than an arena full of 20,000 people makes a world of difference for the better). The album has only seven songs, but don’t feel cheated by the $10 price. The shortest song is six minutes long, with the longest being double that. If anything, you’re getting more music for the price than what you would normally get for any other full-length album.

Perhaps even more impressive than convincing me to enjoy a live album is the fact that all of these songs are instrumental. Dynamo is a jazz/blues/funk band made up of seven core members and fifteen additional musicians. This makes for quite a large ensemble that somehow comes together with a grace that entices the listener to keep the record playing on repeat.

When performing an all-instrumental song (let alone album), it takes a certain special talent to convey emotions purely through the music, yet Dynamo accomplishes this easily. Songs like “Clusterfunk” brings to the table exactly what you think it will: a cluster of funky music that is guaranteed to lure you into some form of movement be it tapping your foot or full-blown dancing. “Tough Times” opens with a fun, jazzy combination of horns, percussion, piano, guitar – you name it and that instrument is most likely being played on this track. The tempo changes roughly three quarters into the song to a slow jam and then suddenly a piano jumps in, playing a simultaneously happy and ominous tune. It’s as if the song is trying to convey the questionability that life presents to all of us. The only song that has any sort of singing is “Movin’ On,” but even then the vocals are not the main attraction. This is the shortest of all the songs on the album, clocking in at 6:06. And even though the voice is wonderful and bluesy and sucks you in instantly, it’s the music that clings to you and holds you there to listen.

Ryan Connors is a master on the piano; Joshua Blaylock transports you on keyboard; Kevin Gatzke rules the horn section with his tenor saxophone; John Murphy woos you with electric guitar; Kevin Gift Jr. keeps things steady with his bass; Ross McReynolds lays the ground work with percussion; and Nate Felty rocks out on the drums. These seven young men (accompanied, again, by fifteen other various musicians) have created a striking instrumental group that is beginning to take Nashville by storm. In a world of Lady Gagas and Katy Perrys, it’s rather difficult for any group to march onto the scene let alone a fully instrumental one and yet Dynamo is demonstrating that they have the capability of wowing a crowd both through recorded and live music.

Live at Ocean Way is available for purchase here. The band is currently touring around the local area in order to promote the recent album release.