I've never heard of this band before, and I'm not blown away, but they have some definite potential.? They basically write fairly straightforward emo/indie rock songs with a little bit of a pop-punk or melodic hardcore undercurrent.? But let me be very specific in pointing out that this stuff isn't sappy or overly melodic or anything like that at all, it's definitely got more of a punchy and rocked out thing going on.? In some ways they remind me of No Motiv, a band that I really like a lot (the same goes for Dag Nasty, of which there's a hint of in this stuff as well), but the songwriting here just isn't as catchy or memorable, so it's like they're a couple of steps away from really hitting the mark.? The playing is solid, the writing is decent, the recording's alright, etc.? It's just not totally hitting me.? I love the roaming basslines that force their way to prominence in the mix (definitely lending some of the pop-punk tendencies to the writing), I like the vibe of the vocals (not too clean, not very raspy, just sincere and straightforward singing with some yells at times) and the way the backing vocals tradeoff now and then, the blend of influences is really nice... I'm not entirely sure what's missing.? It's cool when they mess with some post-hardcore sounding stuff in songs like "Bleeds and Bleeds", but there's no way in fucking hell the thing needs to run for seven minutes.? And that does lead me to my first complaint about this CD: It's too long. 50 minutes is overkill for this stuff. You should stick with 35 - 40 minutes (give or take) of your best material and move along. 11 tracks is fine, but not when many of them run more than five or six minutes and average around four-and-a-half each. It just gets really tiresome, and there's definitely some filler that could be dumped here. Look at "Scars": A three-minute song, plenty of energy, and one of the best tunes herein. That's what I'm talking about. The same goes for "Northern Lights": Three-and-a-half minutes, rocked out chord progressions, memorable chorus. Bingo. But all the clean guitars and extended breaks in "Hold On" kill an otherwise decent song by dragging it out to more than six minutes with ballady sounding crap that serves no real purpose. That laidback stuff is not where your strengths lie, so don't fiddle with it if it means wandering away from where your best work rests. I like the production for the most part. It could use a little polishing up, but at the same time it has a barely dated sound to it that I think fits the music very well. It sounds like it could've come out 10 years ago, and that actually is kind of a nice association for this stuff. The bass tone is ultra defined, while everything else is just warm and airy. There's a faint hint of separation in the mix that could probably be alleviated if the bass was turned up but given a little less of that plunky edge, but for the most part things sound very nice and very efficient for this approach. I'd definitely like to hear more vocal harmonies, though. All of the band members who sing are solid, and the lead vocalist is great, so take advantage of it. The layout's not bad. I'm not wild on the creamy yellow color, but the photography is nice and everything looks clean and professional. I have no real comment on the lyrics. They leave things open for interpretation and don't rub me the wrong way, they just don't hit me at all. Honestly, and this is of course very nitpicky, but the worst thing about the layout is the record label's logo, which is terrible. Somehow that tiny little logo (which is mostly text) being slapped in the corner of the back cover does manage to throw off the aesthetic of the layout. Honestly. The label logo almost makes it look like one of those self-released affairs where the band made up a fake label to create the illusion that they're signed. Know what I mean? That's not the case here, but it looks that way, so... give it some thought. This isn't a bad disc, and it's almost frustrating because you can hear hints at how god damn great this band could be, they're just not nailing it yet. Hopefully they'll crank it out next time around, because I'd love to see that happen. Whatever the case, hang onto that vocalist, because the guy's fuckin' great.
[Jump Start]
Running time - 50:16, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Scars, Northern Lights, Where We Fall]
Jump Start Records - http://www.jumpstartrecords.com
