Review Summary: The Draft offers a nice amount of variety not seen in a lot of records in it's genre, and Football, etc. prove emo is not just a boy's club with this stellar record.
For a genre that seems to have a stigma attached that it's "girly," emo has a surprising lack of women in the genre. This fact alone automatically sets Football, etc. apart because they have not one, but two females in the band. Football, etc. are a three piece emo band based out of Houston, Texas that play a refreshing blend of the highs and lows of the genre. While most emo bands set out to either depress the crap out of you, or get you in a partying mood;
The Draft is somewhere in the middle of all that, resulting in a record that has a melancholy feel but is also fun. Basically they're down for a good time but they also want to tell you about their problems. This potent blend offers the listener a highly enjoyable but also relaxing experience.
The Draft is very easy to listen to and one could easily see themselves drifting off to the 10 tracks done right in 30 minutes. The run time of 30 minutes is perfect as
The Draft says what it needs to say and then gets the hell out of there before it overstays its welcome. If their was a "Fantasy Emo Band" game, I would certainly draft Football, etc. in the first round.
The lovely lady quarterbacking the band is Lindsay who handles the guitar and vocal duties. Her guitar style is pretty standard for the genre: lots of arpeggios and bright chords, but her songwriting ability more than makes up for her lack of guitar prowess. Most of the songs on
The Draft have interesting song structures, the tunes offer a bit more than the typical verse-chorus-verse structure and there is always a game changing unique section around the middle of each track that takes the song to the end zone. Lindsay's singing voice is very nice sounding, but her vocals are held back a bit by her tendency to sing multiple (usually 2) notes on the same syllable. This quirk is cute at first, but she overdose it over the course of the record.
The other lovely lady in the band is bassist Mercy. She's not your typical bassist though, she plays a Fender VI(made famous by The Cure) which is a six string bass that looks a lot like a regular electric guitar but has the same deep tone of a bass. Oh mercy me if you refer to her as a typical rock bassist, she is constantly grooving and her bass lines are usually weaving in and out of Lindsay's arpeggios to create a nice engaging full sound. If Lindsay is the quarterback, then Mercy is her offensive line, supporting the band with her mighty fine bass work.
The first half of
The Draft is a lot more engaging with songs like "Sudden Death," "Lambeau" and "X's and O's" having more stand out and catchy guitar and vocals parts, while the second half tends to be more laid back and chill with the songs sort of melding together to create an almost sleepy-time vibe allowing the listener to drift off, sit back and enjoy.
The Draft picks back up again with the short and sweet closer Mouthguard which brings both styles of the record full circle. Both styles show off Football, etc.'s ability to do whatever it takes to pull off a win.
Football, etc. may not be as technical or fun as some bands in the scene, nor as emotionally draining and cathartic either, but on
The Draft the band makes up for this by offering a little of both styles as to not overwhelm the listener, and ends up being a really fun and easy to listen to record. Whether the band is passing the ball and scoring lots of points in the first half, or pounding the ball and running the clock out in the second half, Football, etc. always pull out a big win.
