| CD Review - Ewan Hughes' Army - The Curse Of.... |
||
|
||
| CD EP |
||
|
||
|
||
| Review by Phill |
||
|
When I first listened to Ewan Hughes' Army, I was struck by how tight they were for a band that has only been together for four months. A combination of local musical talent with some previous band experience (Chris Barnard being previously of Flash Cars), they certainly evoke the sort of sensory satisfaction that is rarely heard in a band that is, in musical terms, still in its infancy.
The CD artwork is excellent – a Manga-esque backdrop with a predominant yellow colour scheme really makes both the CD and the sleeve stand out from the majority of cobbled-together afterthoughts that usually preside within the realms of CD sleevery. James Redman (the artist; friend of the band) clearly went to a lot of trouble to design this.
The First Track, ‘Old Beginnings’ starts with a simple four-chord guitar medley. Swiftly backed by drums and vocals, it’s unfortunate that this isn’t enough to disguise the fact that one of the guitars is out-of-tune; a mistake sometimes made in a studio where over-complimentary monitors don’t give an accurate impression of how the song will sound in the real world. However, this is only a small blotch on an otherwise solid musical canvas. The vocals are strong, with pleasing backing harmonies. The drums are tight and have a dry, yet pleasant sound to them. The slightly clichéd lyrics put me in mind of The Starting Line, as do the musical build-ups – noteworthy especially between verse and chorus.
The second track follows much of the same formula. ‘Rain Not Snow’ has simple, energetically-delivered lyrics which compliment a solid, musical crunch throughout. There are more clues of the band’s influences; the slightly wistful lead guitar parts in the verses remind me of me of Minus the Bear, and the choral culmination provoked many Ataris-associated memories -nice to hear! Perhaps purporting pop-punk, these elements make the second track shine.
Slowing things down, track three suppresses the mood somewhat. ‘Brown Leaves On Evergreen Trees’ is definitely a fitting image for the pace of this track. The notion of a quiet, slow suffering fits well with the lyrics, telling a story of loss, without the usual emotional slab of anger and over-reaching emotion found in too many songs these days; an obvious but muted dwelling on loss. The use of keys in the background is very nice and adds atmosphere. A more aggressive interlude picks up the feel briefly towards the end, but it doesn’t dent the deliberate, un-rushed feel of the song, which is a shame. I feel that this particular passage could have been longer. At its current length, it doesn’t really add anything to the song.
The final track of the E.P, ‘Everything That You Loved’ is a pleasing finale. The pace is strong enough to carry the crunching guitar choruses, yet slow enough to convey hushed emotion in the verses. The dual vocals work particularly well in this track – the backing vocals are very good and a cut above mere harmonies. For me, it’s the strongest track on the CD.
The CD was produced over two days in Paperstone Studios in Nottingham. Four tracks down, mixed and mastered is quite an achievement in this time, especially when the production is at the better end of self-funded EP production. It’s very tight – it’s just a shame about the slightly out-of-tune guitars. However, this shouldn’t detract from the fact that this is a very good E.P from a band who have come up with an admirable snapshot of what they are about, which should easily help Ewan Hughes Army get their foot very much in the gig door. With a few gigs lined up on their MySpace already, expect more to follow.
.Phill.
|
||
Website: |
||
|
|
|
|
This page was last updated Monday, 11 January 2010
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Latest Additions |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||
  |
   
|
     |
  
|
  |
   |
|
|||||
© LincolnBands.co.uk 2004-2007