You and I "s/t" CD
[Alone]
This discography contains tracks from the band's debut 7", the "Saturday's Cab Ride Home" 12", and the "Within the Frame" CD, plus some live tracks - all recorded in 1997 - 1998. I've never heard of this band before, but this is pretty typical metallic "screamo" stuff with a good mix of emotion and aggression. You're in for heavy chord progressions (at times injecting some melody), a few chaotic elements, laidback clean passages, vocals that jump from screaming to singing, with some yelling and layering of vocal styles happening now and then, and a mix of tempos from slow and more somber to faster blasts with a noisy edge going on. I like softer songs like "A Day that Passes Through Us" a lot more than anything else, because a lot more emotion is conveyed, and it's just more effective for me. They're not bad at what they do otherwise, they're just not very interesting in most instances. Sadly there are very few songs that are consistently laidback, and "When We Were One" is among the few songs that effectively blends most of the band's angles into one concise piece. As for the recordings, this is fairly raw stuff. Strong mixes tend to work in their favor, and there's a lot of thickness going on, so I don't have any real complaints... I guess this particular style is sort of supposed to have that dry, rugged warmth to it. I think they could sound better with more clarity or a bit of polishing around the edges, but I can live with it for the most part. The live songs of course sound like complete shit and should've been omitted, but what can you do? If you love this band and want to listen to live songs that sound like super compressed low grade mp3's of the band recorded playing in a basement with a handheld tape recorder, have a blast. The layout is among the most minimal I've ever seen. It's all black backgrounds with white text. That's it. The tracklist is on the back, the band name is on the front, the lyrics are inside, and the last page of the booklet says what releases are included on the CD and who played on those tracks. That's it. No record covers, no list of which tracks came from which release, no recording details, no photos or images, nothing. The lyrics aren't bad. They're generally personal, at times mildly political, but they're a bit longer and better written than most of this stuff. "From sea to shining sea I saw my father's blood, Staining my hands red, To complement the breathless blue we throw to the sky, Blood so red I cannot wash it from my fucking hands, You made me hate what I am, Senselessly you took what they had and wrote them out of a book stained in blood, Foundation of expansion, But what happened to the children..." the tracklist on the back is fucked up, so you have to read the lyrics to figure out what song you're on, which is mildly irritating. Over an hour of this action is way too much for me to handle in one sitting, but I'm honestly not that into it to begin with. There are some awesome moments, but as a whole I don't see what the big deal is about this band. If every song was as good as "A Day that Passes Through Us" I'd understand some of the fuss, but that's far from the case. (5/10)
Running time - 71:55, Tracks: 23
[Notable tracks: A Day that Passes Through Us, When We Were One]
Alone Records - http://www.alonerecords.com

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