Occasionally I AM TUNED UP gets album submissions. Publicist James Lloyd was the guy that led me to the discovery of Take One Car, a good find. Now, I usually approach album submissions with cautious optimism and since Take One Car delivered so well I gave Underwater Tiger a harder look than I might have otherwise. Lloyd delivered as a publicist again, and more importantly Underwater Tiger delivers as a band. Now, did I enjoy Underwater Tiger as much as Take One Car at first? Honestly no, but these bands are like apples and oranges. So what follows is my objective (as best I can) response to the Where Miles Become Meaning album.
Who is Underwater Tiger? They are in short, an emo influenced rock band from New York. Fans of Jimmy Eat World and the like will no doubt find things to enjoy about the record (heck, even the album art kind of recalls that of JEW’s Futures). The overall vibe of the record is precisely what the band’s moniker might indicate, however silly sounding. The music has muscle and strength to stand on its own, albeit masking a bit sometimes moody vibes, pensive lyrics, and meandering intros.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47301142″ iframe=”true” /]The album is definitely catchy without being cliche. Some may disagree – elements of many emo-influenced alternative rock bands pop up from time to time. Also, some might criticize the flow of the album. Rather than feeling like a complete album, Where Miles Become Meaning treads close to the “collection of eleven songs” territory. The overall quality of the tracks is enough to make me want to overlook this, but it bears mentioning. Two exceptions to the “flow” problem are “Discouri” and “Treading Days.” They sound like parts one and two of the same piece, the former sounding a bit like Jimmy Eat World’s “23” before picking up in intensity that flows into the latter, which is three minutes of optimism that ends a bit abruptly, the band seemingly choosing the “less is more” approach. “Bones,” the single (and music video) carries a lot of power but crisper production would give the track more punch. The unknown-factor behind the band makes this forgivable (will someone take these guys on tour please? Jimmy Eat World? Further Seems Forever? Dashboard Confessional? Bueller?). More success will mean a bigger budget and better production…but I digress. Other highlights from the record include the hopeful “Oh So Surreal” and the album closer “The Summer Came.” The band also spends a couple tracks wandering into piano power-ballad territory, with moderate success.
Underwater Tiger is a talented band that is perhaps held back by an over-saturated emo-alt-rock market. The vocals, while great, aren’t terribly unique. Time should be on the band’s side, though. As a blogger that gets my fair share of middle of the road or downright mediocre submissions, I only mention the bands that are good enough to deserve it. As Underwater Tiger gets a whole review, they more than deserve it.
Score: 4/5
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