If Friday night on Nov. 18 is looking strangely bleak and dull, Omnisoul is to the rescue. Formed at the University of Delaware, the pop/rock band first gained notoriety by having their song “Waiting (Save Your Life)” appear on the Wind-Up Records-released soundtrack for the flick “Fantastic Four” starring everyone’s favorite midriff, Jessica Alba. The song has also been heard in CBS’ show “Joan of Arcadia.” The band is made up of five college-age lads with nice hair: Derek Fuhrmann (vocals/ guitar), Shawn Manigly (guitar), Josh Berger (bass), Jamie Orlando (keyboards) and Tyler Ingersoll (drums). While one reviewer on smother.net mentions that their music has the capability to essentially “swoop down on the masses and eat up our will to find the good things in life,” the band’s Web site at www. omn i s o u l . c o m vaguely explains their sound as “new, refreshing and completely unique.”
The band plays a mixture of both rock and electronica with lively songwriting; “evocative, emotional vocals soar over grooving beats, synthesizers and guitars” (www. sonicgarden.com). Frontman Fuhrmann mentions that his inspirations include “Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, [and the] Counting Crows” (www.voicesandvisions. com) The band has come a long way since winning a Battle of the Bands, which was also their first real gig. They’ve been working on recording their first album for Wind-Up Records, which is not to be confused with their first selfdistributed CD Happy Outside.
Currently, you can listen to “Waiting (Save Your Life)” and two other tracks (“Live Like Your Last Day,” “Not Giving Up”) on the band’s Web site. The typical lyric reads as, “But if you want me to I’ll be the one for you/ Maybe I can save your life/ At times you’ve hated me, ain’t that how love should be/ So just let me save your life.”
Music clips, merchandise and their MySpace group can all be found at the band’s Web site, www.omnisoul.com.
Omnisoul will be performing at West Chester University in the Sykes Ballrooms on Friday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. The price is $5.00 a ticket for the general public, WCU faculty, and staff, but it is free for students with their student IDs.