steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Earlymay

"Stay Off Your Heels" CD

Mother West

Genres: rock, alternative rock, indie rock

Mother West
132 West 26th St.
New York NY
10001

Aug 25 - 31 2003

How many times is emotional rock going to be done and re-done until it starts repeating itself? I'm shocked that Earlymay has managed to take a type of music that has been done before so many times by so many different people and still make it sound convincingly fresh.

Case in point. "Digital Green", arguably the album's best track. It's got definite Interpol and Versus influences, but still succeeds in being refreshing and unbearably catchy. Its spacey, powerful chorus will be trapped in your head for days. The title-track, meanwhile, is a powerful, epic explosion of a song; its blaring guitar solos are one-upped by pounding percussion and emotional vocals.

On the other hand, some of the other tracks aren't so successful. "Come Around" is flat; its piano, vocal, and string base is refreshing in concept yet done in a preachy, blasé manner. "Built" goes for an epic guitar part but it ends up sounding blocky and unspectacular. "Hesitate" is good until the end, when it repeats its weak chorus too many times.

Earlymay have constructed a nice album with Stay Off Your Heels, but not one without its faults. You'll have heard music like this before, in both indie and alternative rock forms, but those who like epic, emotional rock won't have a problem with a little more.

76%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2003]