An Angle - The Truth Is That You Are Alive

Well, it seems my lucky streak has stagnated a bit. While I was really taken with the two previous artists, I find myself quite indifferent to An Angle. This isn't a bad album, it just lacks anything that is interesting enough to stand out to me.

The biggest thing I find fault with in this group is the singer. His voice hovers too closely to the cusp of what I would call annoying, crossing that line more often than I'd like. It often gets in the way of anything good that the instruments are up to, and sadly, instances like that are too rare as it is. On the whole the guitar work plays it very safe, looking to the basics set down by classic rock. I love the classics, but emulating them too closely yields nothing new or interesting. You'd think that the occasional addition of strings and brass would serve to liven things up, but unfortunately when this is done it remains basic as well. Overall this makes the group's music sound too simple and 1-dimensional.

The most frustrating part of listening to this band is hearing them slowly edge towards something cool, but then turn away from it. I thought perhaps this was because they were a young band, with this maybe being their first LP. Upon doing a little research though, I found out that this is their third studio album. If you ask me, by they time they got to this album they should have been skilled enough to put some more dangerous and interesting things into their music, even if they wanted to keep the core sound simple. In summary, this band had potential, but never acted on it. You're better off listening to the bands in the "Sounds Like" section.

Sounds Like: Wilco, Dr. Dog, Bright Eyes

-Track Listing-

1. Oh! Oh! Oh! Trouble!

2. Clean and Gold

3. Falling in Your Arms

4. Even if I...

5. Going to Heaven

6. Child in Me

7. Red River

8. I'm Alright

9. Ghost in the Mirror

10. C'mon C'mon

11. On My Way

12. You Are Loved

Notable tracks:

Best- Clean and Gold, Even if I..., I'm Alright

Worst- Oh! Oh! Oh! Trouble!

Links:

Clean and Gold Music Video This video does a few neat tricks, but for the most part is pretty dumb.