senecadawg2’s EPLudovico Einaudi – UnoFirst Impressions: There’s a nice slow build at the start, synth swell and light piano coming in. It does pick up a little bit but mostly stays on one sound, which is fine enough but the end result is that the track doesn’t stand out too well on its own. This is definitely effective as an opening track, though. I can tell you submitted this more as an album opener than anything else, though.
Final Thoughts: Yeah, this ended up not doing too much for me. It’s pleasant enough music, but beyond that not that memorable and rather one-note. It works as an EP opener just fine, though. But on its own it’s just a nice but fairly unmemorable piano-driven instrumental. I really don’t have much else to say about this, sorry!
Score: 6.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 7/10 (11.87%)
Sarah Fimm – VelocityFirst Impressions: She has a pretty nice voice, though it doesn’t particularly stand out to me, sounds like a lot of similar singers doing similar stuff. Granted, uniqueness isn’t always the best thing either. The instrumentation has a lot of subtleties to it and it’s plenty dynamic enough, always matches with the level of the vocals. As far as softer pop songs go this is pretty good, really. It doesn’t really feel like it goes much of anywhere at the end though, there’s no climax or even proper ending, just a slow burnout.
Final Thoughts: Yeah, her voice is what I have the most gripes with here. On one hand she can sing technically well and there’s enough emotion in her voice. On the other hand, her voice is just… really generic, as far as female pop singers go. I wouldn’t be able to pick her out from a lot of similar artists. It’s not necessarily a problem to have a fairly generic singing voice as long as you sing well, though, and she passes on that front.
The instrumentation is plenty atmospheric and pretty dynamic, it does a good job providing a backdrop for the vocals. On its own, I don’t know how much I’d care to listen it, but for a pop song something like this is totally serviceable and fairly enjoyable. The ending really does go nowhere though, it doesn’t feel like this song ends up having a climax at all, really.
Pop isn’t exactly my favorite of genres but this is a pretty good example of the genre, if not a tad generic on the whole. But yeah, may check out more of her stuff in the future.
Score: 7.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 8/10 (14.38%)
The Antlers – ParadeFirst Impressions: I’ve probably heard something from the Antlers before, knew someone who was pretty big on them and they’ve likely been submitted the other site I frequent for music-related stuff. I like the use of the horns, they add a bit of life into an otherwise kind of sluggish song. Not necessarily a knock against the song that it feels a little slow, though. Vocals are fine enough, the instrumentation creates a pretty full sound too which I always like. And it definitely feels like it gets more intense as the song goes on.
Final Thoughts: The vocal melodies on this feel really familiar, are they a sample from something else? They may not be and I’m just crazy, who knows. Anyways, the vocals are pretty good, they sound very indie-rock but at the same time I can’t say I’ve heard another voice quite like the singer’s, so it remains enjoyable to listen to. I can tell he’s not the best of singers but he’s singing emotionally enough.
The horns are probably my favorite part of the instrumentation here, they add some swell to the bigger moments of the song, they feel like they’re mainly there just for volume, but the vocals always get more intense when they come in. The guitars and drums and synths and whatever else are all pleasant too though they stay pretty firmly in the background for most of the song, either the singer is drowning them out or the horns are. They do end up feeling a bit sidelined though.
This isn’t exactly making me want to run out and check out more stuff from The Antlers but it’s a pleasant piece of slower indie rock and I’m not worse off for having listened to it, it’s alright!
Score: 7.5/10 (16.32%)
The National – Slow ShowFirst Impressions: A name with “slow” in the title after three other relatively slow songs isn’t exactly what I was hoping for at this point, but it turns out it’s the most upbeat song thus far
Liking that deep voice, it’s a good change of pace from what the usual indie rock in this style tends to use, makes it stand out. There’s not really much else for me to comment on though, the vocals seem to be the focal point here as well as the most interesting, which is fine, but leaves the music feeling a bit… sidelined and kinda generic.
Final Thoughts: The lower vocals here are very much what makes this song stand out, I quite like this singer’s voice. Deeper voices always sound a bit classier and smoother, which is funny here especially because I’m pretty sure this song is about being insecure and feeling dumb or something
The drums do a decent job of changing up the basic rhythm at points and keeping the song musically interesting, which is good since, aside from them, and the piano-driven bridge/outro, this song isn’t really that musically special, the instruments are very clearly just a backdrop for the vocal lines. And vocal-centric rock isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially when the vocalist is pretty interesting on their own anyways.
Overall, I don’t know how well this song will stick with me, aside from the vocals, but it’s again a pretty nice listen, if not an immensely enjoyable one.
Score: 7.5/10 (13.08%)
Glen Hansard – Bird of SorrowFirst Impressions: I can tell right off the bat this is going to be a more emotional and evocative track, light piano melodies and somewhat strained vocals pretty much indicate that. Which is something I generally like a lot. The strings coming in right as the vocals get more intense creates a nice swell. The rest of the band comes in around the halfway point and the song just gets, a hell of a lot more intense, christ, those vocals are giving me serious chills man. The Sufjan song better be damn good because this is gonna be hard to top, this feels like one heck of an album closer, haha.
Final Thoughts: Again, he doesn’t sound like the most technically proficient of singers. On the other hand, god damn, this is just pure singing from the heart, and that’s going to win over a technically perfect but soulless vocal performance any day. Really, the biggest gripe I have with this song is that some of the vocal lines just have an awkward/clunky flow to them, too many words being said too fast or something.
The piano serves as a nice backdrop for the quieter moments, playing relatively standard stuff, sure, but that just lets you direct more attention towards the vocal performance that really is the main attraction here. And the strings come in for the swell of the chorus, giving it more weight.
And then, when the full band starts coming in at the second chorus, and the song just gets a hell of a lot more intense… yeah, this part of the song has unfailingly given me chills. The vocals, man. Just raw emotion. I wouldn’t ask for any other singer for this song, Hansard just nails it. If I can nitpick for a second, though, it almost feels like the instrumentation doesn’t quite get big enough to match the vocals.
The slow denouement of the outro as a bit of a cooldown is nice, too, though the way the song transitions from the loud parts to the cooldown feels a little clumsy and sudden. Not a huge problem or anything though.
As a whole, this is another one of those great piano ballads crammed with emotion, and that always seems to do pretty well in my book. Can’t complain. Loving it.
Score: 9.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 10/10 (18.31%)
Damien Rice – 9 CrimesFirst Impressions: I thought this name sounded familiar and yeah I’m preeetty sure I’ve heard this before but I’ll let it slide because I don’t remember it anyways. I think this is pretty nice but the vocalists aren’t as powerful here and it’s reeeeally overshadowed by the song before this one. Both have the same piano-driven ballad feel with a vocal focus and some nice strings, though. It’s very pretty music, but it’s not grabbing me in the same way. The swell at the end is pretty good though.
Final Thoughts: So the first time, this song just got completely overshadowed by Glen Hansard. Maybe it’s because that was a song I immediately loved, whereas this song has just been one heck of a grower.
Both singers show plenty of emotion both in the softer moments and the louder swell at the end. It’s a very quiet song as a whole, a very pained song, driven almost purely by emotions. The string swell for the climax of the song with both singers singing over each other is just… another moment of chills, man.
I still do think this ends up overshadowed a little by the song preceding it in the end, but at the same time it’s still a damn fine track on its own, and a tad more succinct.
Score: 9 (+.5 Bonus) = 9.5/10 (11.45%)
Sufjan Stevens – Fourth of JulyFirst Impressions: This has a bit more of a pulse than the last two, fortunately. The rather bright piano and Sufjan’s vocals have an underlying melancholy to it, which the lyrics themselves seem to make evident. I think I have to focus on the lyrics here the most, and while I’m not getting the full story here on my first listen, I at least get pieces of it. The subtleties in the back of the mix help build atmosphere, but other than that there’s not much else to talk about musically. The ending’s a bit sudden, I guess, but fits lyrically.
Final Thoughts: Alright, I get why the lyrics have a lot of the cheesy name-calling going, this is just a really intimate song. I almost feel bad listening to it, like I’m peering into someone’s private life that I have no place actually seeing. I dunno, it’s just, too personal for me, almost.
The dark tone of the song as contrasted with the rather bright piano sound does work pretty well, I feel. The music is a backdrop for the vocals here, again, though there’s enough atmosphere to it in the end.
I dunno. Talking about this feels wrong, I’m sorry, haha. I really do like this song, but there’s not a lot for me to say about it. By the time it comes around I’m a little emotionally spent from the two songs before it, too.
Score: 8.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 9/10 (14.59%)
Overall Song Score: 17/20EP ScoreFirst Impressions: The first track is an effective intro track that carries the same mood of the rest of the EP while not overshadowing the others. I understand why, thematically, the Sufjan song is at the end, though all things considered I’d have at least put Glen Hansard after the Damien Rice song, if not at the end. As far as cohesion goes, though, the songs are all pretty soft and focused on atmosphere, so they do feel like they belong together on that front. At the same time, it’s a little one-note, especially since there’s only one track that really picks up the tempo at all, and the last three songs all being completely piano-driven makes them blend a little; I already can’t really remember what the Damien Rice song sounds like, being the weakest of the three. We’ll see how my thoughts on this develop over time, though, this could easily change.
Final Thoughts: I think you picked your opener and closer perfectly. The rest of the track order I’d probably have changed up a little. I dunno, having the two indie rock songs in a row followed by the three piano ballads in a row doesn’t benefit any of them on their own, there’s too high a risk of one of them overshadowing the other by direct proximity (which did end up happening in the case of Damien Rice on my first listen, which is really unfortunate since that ended up being one of my favorites.)
As far as flow goes, though, there’s no sudden shifts of mood or anything and the songs do flow into each other pretty well, probably because they’re all pretty soft songs to begin with. I can’t say there’s really any issues on that front at all. Cohesion is also strong as a result. The only song that feels a little out of place is the Sarah Fimm track, being very electronic and poppy (and being the only purely female-driven track too) but it’s only a little out of place, it still fits in with the relative softness of the EP. At the same time, I’m glad there’s a little something different in with the rest, because this may be a little too cohesive to the point where songs can blur in my mind – again, Damien Rice. As well, having the three piano ballads makes the piano intro track carry even less weight, though it’s far separated from the others in terms of track order.
Overall, as far as an EP goes, this is pretty well organized; the only track that feels like it’s there for the sake of the EP itself is the opener, the rest all stand on their own pretty well. I would have liked maybe a little more variety, but at the same time cutting any one of the three great piano ballads would’ve been a sad loss, haha.
Cohesion: 5/5
Variety: 3/5
Flow: 5/5
Track Order: 3/5
EP Score: 8/10Final Score: 25/30