Review Summary: Indie Rock easy on the ears.
The American Scene are an Indie Rock band from Berkeley, California. What you will notice immediately about this band in the opener ''By Way Of Introduction'', is vocalist Matthew Vincent's soft soothing voice, as he introduces us to the next 8 songs of highly enjoyable indie rock.
The opener then leads into ''Did You Hear About Your Friends In California?'' A beautiful song about the tough decisions between leaving home, and leaving the ones you love behind, or getting out and experiencing what this wonderful world we live in has to offer us all. A nice riff accompanies the great vocals and the drum beat keeps the pace of what is a very good choice to put at 2nd on the EP as it introduces us to what this young band are all about. The lyrical content on the album continues on in the same vain, contending with different themes that i'm sure most teenagers including myself, can most definitely relate to. Some may see this as a weakness in the song writing department, only staying on the same sort of themes, but these guys will only get better with time.
My favorite of the EP is the oddly titled ''Marty McFly, Nostradamus and I''. A brilliant opening with Matt's soft dulcet tone accompanied with an intermediate strum, and a melody along with a simple but effective soft snare beat is a great opening to the standout track on the album. The chorus and the beginning of the 2nd verse are the best written lyrics on this EP.
''Stop holding your breath,my friends all say,
You need to figure out a way, to let yourself down easy for once in your life.
Well, I remember being good at looking to the future, but,
I'm always burying my heart in places apart from where I lay my head.''
The production of this EP is good but, at some stages, the guitar tone sounds a little bit muddy, but this is forgotten when you are swept into the great vocals.
A big strength of this album is that there is certainly no filler song. Each song has a slightly different feel to it, although that can always come as a downside, with some who may feel the songs sound too similar, but a big change between songs isn't needed with relatively well written lyrics and well put together song structures.
There are for sure many great qualities about this young up and coming quintet. They can already write a great song and can all definitely play their instruments, l look forward to see what they do next.
Recommended Tracks:
Did You Hear About Your Friends In California?
Marty McFly, Nostradamus and I
A Million Minutes In The Making
