Outsmarting Simon "Silent Sober and Sound" CD
[Maroon Set]
Here's some relatively calm emo/indie rock from New Jersey that executes a nice blend of lush clean guitars and moderate distortion with tasteful singing vocals and fairly slow to moderately paced compositions that hit with a very emotional impact. The tracks tend to revolve around mingling layers of clean guitars, with distortion only thrown in as a shift in dynamics rather than a real point of emphasis, and three of the band members sing, so there's a lot of vocal layering as well. They don't do too many typical vocal harmonies, which creates some interesting effects, but since all three of them are competent signers I think they could work that angle a lot more and come up with some great material. I think this is fairly original work as well. At times their laidback approach does remind me of their fellow statesmen Penfold, though admittedly Outsmarting Simon has a long way to go before they hit Penfold's incredible level of moving songwriting. "Of Minds" comes close, though. The guitars sound pristine, the vocal harmonies are incredible, and the mood of the song is quite striking compared to most of the other tracks. The recording is good, but a few elements are a little bit raw (by this genre's standards) and that can hold back the force of the material ever so slightly. I'd like to hear a smoother sound to the vocals and distorted guitars, and the drums could possibly use more warmth, but the bass and the clean/acoustic guitars sound fine, and for the most part the percussion sounds very good too. Visually everything's okay, just a little bit plain. There's one faint photo of the sky on the cover, but you can barely tell that it's not a block of color, as most of the booklet is made up of blocks and stripes of blue that have a typical "design student" sort of appearance. Inside is a strip of tiny black and white photos and all of the lyrics, which aren't really anything new or interesting: "The rain poured down that day I sat watching and waiting for signs with the sky crashing down upon my head I stared at her feet eyes like angels feet drenched and toes clinched..." The key problem with this particular release is that it's just too damn long. It does flow incredibly well, but it definitely drags on way, way longer than necessary. I mean, really, does this need to be over an hour? 40 minutes or so would've been fine, and especially useless are excessively long tracks like "Racing a Train", complete with senseless programmed drums and electronics that serve no purpose in an otherwise tolerable piece. But for the most part this band is on the right track, and I could see them impressing the shit out of me in the future. So I'll keep an eye on 'em. Not bad. I'm expecting big things from these cats. (6/10)
Running time - 61:30, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: 05.04.68, Of Minds, Farewell Sunshine, Drive by Monologue]
Outsmarting Simon - http://www.outsmartingsimon.com

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