Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Review: about-face / The Working Title

Four songs streaming at MySpace.

Emo. If I were more of a music snob, I may be able to give you a brief history of the term. All I know was that when I was in high school, I used the term to describe music I liked. Yet now I seem to use the term to describe music I don't. It's probably the onslaught of bands made up of musicians years younger than me who sing about being tortured while collecting paychecks for mega-tours and silly merchandise. I didn't want to rush to judge The Working Title - they look like decent fellows with the cameras in front of their faces, and their album doesn't begin terribly. Ethereal guitar and a dark drum beat characterize the title track. Singer Joel Hamilton's voice isn't spectacular, but he doesn't try and do much with it on the opener. There are hints of talent elsewhere on the album - the opening piano of "Weigh Me Down" and the strings on "Never Run Again." Sadly, in both instances, that is merely a means to segue into a more generic sounding rock song that seems primed for radio. Lyrically, the band seems stuck in high school poetry class with lines like, "Right now, she's dancing in the middle/My heart, is naked for the first time" on "Weigh Me Down." At a certain point, I have a hard time liking a band whose biggest dream seems to be landing a video on TRL.

1.5 (out of 5)

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