Tennis "Laundromat" CD
[Watermark]
More poppy emo/indie rock from this trio, and I'm kind of torn as to what I think of it. First things first, they are good songwriters. There's a good mix of straight up simple, catchy choruses and some more involved rhythms that almost have a mathy sort of angle to 'em, they break out acoustic guitars and keyboards on rare occasion (can't say I dig the keyboards), and so on. The singing is good as far as the guy's ability to hit notes and harmonize and such, and I can get used to it, but... I really think this band would be way better with a new frontman. The singer's voice is just too whiny. He tones it down at times and can pull it off nicely, but as soon as he starts getting into it and hitting higher notes, it grates on my nerves. A singer with a calmer midrange voice could do wonders for these songs. I hate to say that, because some of these songs are great, and the dude's not a bad singer... it's just irritating, I gotta be honest. The vocals work fine with the lush and somber textures of "Friend With Benefits", which is one of the best songs on the disc by far. The last three songs are taken from the "Pure Evil" 7", released by Watermark awhile back. And actually the singing has gotten better since that time, as it's now cleaner and far more consistent. Hopefully he'll continue to improve, as the band is a few steps away from really hitting the mark. The production is fine. It's really thick and warm, the mix is dense and everything has its own presence, etc. I don't have any gripes there. The lows are low, the highs are bright... leave that as is. The layout is really damn cool. I love the color scheme, and there are tons of tiny photos of laundromats and things you'd see inside a laundromat, and it somehow ends up looking fucking great. Go figure. Nice work. The lyrics are crammed onto one panel of the small booklet in tiny, but legible text. The content is all personal and straightforward, nothing major: "This silence. Distance. We fight to forget. She's gone this time. Made up her mind. These pages of baggage. We'll choke in the lines." I like some of this, but it's not something I could listen to on a regular basis at all. I could see this band blowing me away at some point, but not yet. (5/10)
Running time - 33:28, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Toothbrush, Friend With Benefits]
Watermark Records - http://www.watermarkrecords.com

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