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Digg It
By Josiah Kosier
Published: April 25, 2008
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EmailBand: Sing It Loud
Album: Sing It Loud EP
Label: Epitaph
Overall Score: 2.5/5
Sing It Loud’s first leap into the national music scene is a great EP showcasing what they bring to the table: attractive vocals, heavy guitars, and subtleties that make them stand out from the crowd. Produced by Josh Cain of Motion City Soundtrack, the EP starts with “No One Can Touch Us” featuring Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, and although the beginning sequence sounds very forced production-wise, the song picks up towards the end when it is given space for the quiet subtleties to shine through, exhibiting group vocals, and allowing the piano in to accentuate the song. Engaged by heavy guitars and ending with a strong sound that was evident throughout, Sing It Loud displays the qualities necessary to produce great sounding tracks that catch the attention of listeners quickly.
The low point of the EP comes with the third track, “Bite Your Lip.” The harmonies are poorly structured, forcing the vocals to sound strained and nasally—exactly what vocalists try to prevent from happening. Also, the vocalist’s voice is not strong enough to achieve a full sound compared to the power of the instruments, and the remedy of doubling the vocal track gets annoying at times. I have a different version of the track, an earlier one, and the problems were not evident there so I think this is more of the producers fault, but nonetheless, the poor vocals are on the EP.
The best song on the EP is one that is new to the listeners of Sing It Loud, entitled “Best Beating Heart.” It has a great vocal pattern with fitting harmonies, breaks from the heavy guitar sound of the previous three tracks, and excellent production value. There are points in the song where it is just the piano pounding away, places where the bass is the lone statement, and times where it all comes together to create the paramount sound on the album; the contrasts are what makes the track so great. The end track, “Come Around (Acoustic),” is a great acoustic track filled with deep, open-tuned guitars and vocals that, although soft, soar over the guitars resulting in a fitting end to a very good EP.
Sing It Loud is poised to make a splash in the pop-punk scene with a heavy touring schedule, an EP at hand, and the great company that are associated with. Aspects must be improved, and the EP is not amazing by any means, but Sing It Loud does an excellent job giving listeners a taste of what is yet to come with their first full-length CD coming out in the fall, and with more time in the studio and more maturity, I expect them to deliver the goods.
Listen to the EP in its entirety at Sing It Loud's Myspace.
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