Review Summary: One guy did all of this? Dang.
A.I.R. is not a household name by any means. In fact, this artist is actually a teenager from North Carolina with only about 140 fans on Facebook. However, fans and talent are not equal, as I'm sure you know, and A.I.R. is a one-man project that consists of computer software, a guitar, and a microphone. So how does A.I.R.'s sole release stand up?
Let me start out by pointing out the flaws. This album is the exact opposite of overproduced - it's extremely underproduced. The mixing is shoddy and there's absolutely no mastering, which wouldn't matter if A.I.R. hadn't done that part of the record by himself as well. Half the songs have the guitars in the center, and half of them have them mixed to the sides (the second half being much better than the first). And this is one release a bit more production on the vocals would definitely improve - A.I.R. isn't a *bad* singer, but he isn't particularly *good* either.
Now, the songwriting. The lyrics on this record range from generic and bland ("Set It Off", "The Show", "Dangerous") to making not very much sense at all ("Against the World") to actually pretty clever. "Flair for the Dramatic" is packed with references to plays and musicals, and "Kill the Party" addresses those who would criticize such vapid lyrics as "Just shut up and dance" by providing an abundance of them.
Now, the actual music itself. This is the best part of the album. The guitar work, while not flawless or technically masterful by any means, is still much better than in many pop rock records today - "All I Want" features my personal favorite guitar riff. There's a ton of different genres going on here, and while once again not perfect by any means, A.I.R. manages to stay diverse and interesting throughout the entire record. From the mostly purely electronic intro to the punk-influenced "Flair for the Dramatic" to the very danceable "Kill the Party", there's a lot of directions to go. It's a little hard to believe that everything but the guitar and vocals was done with computers.
Overall, this is a slightly better-than-average release, despite multiple pitfalls. I'm excited to see what A.I.R. has coming in the future, and hopefully things will only look up from here.
