Now Now Every Children – Cars Review
Sometimes, I think it’s wrong the method I choose when checking out bands. I generally go to their myspace and listen to a few tracks. However, a lot of the time I review albums and this usually leads to mediocre reviews. Good songs don’t mean good albums. I try to listen to an artist a few times before picking up their CD or saying “no this is not for me”. Still, I don’t think I have the right method down.
Enter Now, Now Every Children a band from Minnesota. They had some really good songs and some steam around the blogosphere while I checked them out. Having 400k myspace views is nothing to sneeze at either. Some decent songs led me to check out the album – that was in June. I’ve been putting off the review for almost two months. I just kept telling myself I’d review it next week. They also have a really bad band name. Grammar police anyone?
I have to address the vocals. I feel like I’m backwards in this regard. I like odd vocalists, who wail and do all kinds of crazy things. Why? Well they don’t fear being versatile and it ultimately speaks to an artist range. Cacie Dalager does have a nice voice. However, it’s not like it’s 1 in a million. I see and hear a ton of good singers out there and at this junction in my musical tastes – a nice voice no longer cuts it. Even if Dalager’s voice is pretty good, on Cars it lacks range. She doesn’t sound like the type that lacks range but on this album she’s basically sounding the same. The only moment where she’s outside of her shell are the “Oh, Oh, Oh” and ending of the album’s best track “Everyone You Know”. Unfortunately the rest of the album, I found surprisingly boring. Her vocals lack emotion and she feels more like a robot singing the same note for every sentence.
A lot of the time I end up skipping tracks without realizing it. I had to ask the person next to me if I switched tracks while trying to listen to the album.
Anyway, it isn’t all bad. The musicianship is where they earn their take. It does a pretty good and they are just a duo afterall. The music is aggressive at times and they make pretty good pop. If I were to just listen to the craftsmanship of the music, I find myself enjoying it much more. It probably carries the emotion load more then the vocals ever did. It doesn’t just stay quiet and on one even keel.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Overall an average or below average album to me. The vocals while nice at first, wane and just don’t have the same impact as they did on the start. Only one track was a standout and while the songs aren’t bad as a whole I kind of disliked this album. I could be crazy as well if you disagree.
Now, Now Every Children and Bad Veins play in Toronto on August 2nd
Everyone You Know by Now, Now Every Children
Tags: album
