Release Date: June 8th, 2012
Reviewed By Court Smoots
With their debut EP Through The Glass Australian band Atlas Genius joins the likes of Neon Tree’s and Young The Giant as bands I feel are very talented yet utterly un-impactful. Their music’s good, real good, it just doesn’t come close to moving me, a trend I feel may be starting to pile up.
AG’s likely “bad” radio single “Trojans” is no doubt a MTV reality show cutaway waiting to happen. The opening line “take it off, take it in, take off all the thoughts of what we’ve been” left me scratching my head and asking “What are they getting at, why don’t they just stop beating around the bush and say what they mean?” And that my friends is the problem with these kinds of bands, they’re just so vague, they haven’t yet bought into the idea of what it mean to cut yourself open and lay, arms wide, facing anyone who’ll listen. That very action is exactly what’s so moving about the music I love; it isn’t just some empty rhymefest, with a quick cadence and good backing music.
I do give the kids credit though, there’s good stuff on this three song EP. I happen to think their rhythm section is damn impressive, and the music itself is mighty clean and well produced, if that’s your thing. Again the one thing missing was that gut punch, that rawness that separates the TV commercial friendly from the odd at first, gold in the eardrums music I love so much. The kind of stuff that slowly unfolds before you and amazes, unlike the obvious stuff, laid before you in an attempt to keep pace with the “popular” bands.
I’ll always try to end these kinds of reviews with a little bit of encouragement, just in case anyone I’m “dissing” happens to be reading. That said… There’s a whole world of hurt out there, as well as equal amounts of love. There’s no doubt you’ve experienced both at some point in your life, so do yourself a favor and dig deep, and write from within one of those potent places. Because the person your writing to just may be experiencing one of those lasting feelings right now, and the sly reassurance that they just may not be alone might just be music to their ears… pun intended.
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