ALBUM REVIEW: "Adornment" by Grayscale

Adornment has the instantly catchy trait that all good pop-punk records have, and for the most part they make use of that initial attention grab with solid songs with actual emotional depth. For a pop-punk record to be of interest to me nowadays there needs to be more beyond the catchiness and "get-out-of-this-town" franticness; I've heard it more than enough times by now and it just seems like a lot of bands are riding on that alone without carving their own sound within those genre hallmarks. There were lots of pop-punk records put out last year by lots of bands, and I remember maybe a handful. The first positive to be found in Grayscale's sound is the vocalist; while there is the occasional cheese that is to expected on a record like this, there is enough dynamic range, warmth and grit to separate him from the whiny, annoying sound that hurts my ears on far too many records (bar an unfortunate cameo from As It Is singer Patty Walters on Come Undone, come at me Patty fans). But the biggest plus I find in Adornment is the pacing between the bangers, sing-a-longs and slower moments. On a lot of records it seems like there has been minimal thought put into which songs go where, there's just a slow song here because there needs to be one somewhere and the crossover song here for the same reason - like the main concern is fitting the outline of what a pop-punk album needs to have. While Adornment does tick all these boxes, there is a flow to the order of songs that gives the sense of a complete album, as opposed to a bunch of songs stuck together to sell in a package. The production is everything I think is wrong with pop-punk records, though, so the less said about that the better. So Adornment does stand above the mediocre majority of their genre peers, but I still am not entirely convinced. If you're a pop-punk freak, though, you'll probably gobble this up, it's got more than enough sing-a-long value and hooks to stay in your head all week.

Favourite Songs: Slipping Away, Mum and Echoes (Carry On)

Least Favourite Songs: Beautiful Things, Slept

Rating: C

Comments

ALBUM REVIEW: "A Man Apart" by Ben Ottewell

Ben Ottewell's third LP A Man Apart goes boldly where he has been before, and while it certainly does that pretty well it doesn't manage to either strike new ground or any real emotional response. There is a distinctly "nice" feel to this record, which is, um, nice I guess if that's what you want. But it just doesn't feel like there's any immediacy or forward motion on any of these songs, like Ottewell is content with writing songs that could be on four wheel drive ads. Again, there isn't really anything particularly bad here, it's just a singer-songwriter album that isn't trying to break new ground. His typically growly voice is also beginning to give way to a more accessible, smooth tone, which could place you on either side of this record. For me it just cements it's place firmly in the middle ground somewhere. Favourite Songs: Own It, A Man Apart and Lead Me Least Favourite Songs: Watcher, Back To The World and Bones ...

1 YEAR LATER: "22, A Million" by Bon Iver

Bon Iver's third studio album turns 1 in about a week (where did that year go?), so I thought it would be interesting to talk a bit about how my impressions of the album have changed - or how they haven't - over the last 12 months. When this album was released I was more excited than I think I ever have been to hear a new album. For Emma, Forever Ago is one of my all time favourites, and I love his self-titled second album too, so I had huge expectations for this album, but was also wary that expectations might ruin my experience of the music. This was particularly the case for 22, A Million , because it is unlike anything else Justin Vernon has released. There have been hints at this more processed, electronic direction previously, like the song "Woods" on the Blood Bank EP and occasional flourishes on Bon Iver , but 22, A Million is a drastic departure from the Bon Iver sound we had grown accustomed to at this point in time. Or at least, that's what I thought...

EP REVIEW: "Same Kind Of Different" by Dean Lewis

Dean Lewis offers up six largely acoustic-driven tunes on his debut offering, all of which are clearly aimed at wider appeal. The acoustic-pop thing has never really done it for me (read my recent Ed Sheeran review here ), mainly because behind the slick production and singable hooks there's a general lack of songwriting to be had. This is where Same Kind Of Different sits a rung above most other similar albums; take the sugar and fairy dust away and there are still six complete songs that could be on a singer-songwriter album, rough and bare. I can appreciate the way these songs have been tailored to be played to a larger audience, but the substance behind the shine is more important to me. The six songs do sound very similar, however, and they do tend to blur together into a singular mass - which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on who you are. For me that was a bit of a concern on second and third listen, but I was generally pleased by Same Kind Of Diffe...

Read Poets Society

Search This Blog