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Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) - Year of the Rabbit 7"
By Cassie Gressell
Published: June 16, 2008
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Band: Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)
Album: Year of the Rabbit 7"
Label: Count Your Lucky Stars
Overall Score: 3/5

 

I think it’s safe to say that we’re all a little more judgmental than we’d like to admit. This is made even more evident when it comes to music. We’ve all got so many options of which album to buy, which band to advertise on our t-shirts, and which concert really and truly is worthy of our presence, in many cases second chances just do not exist. We judge. We hear a song, and we dislike it enough to avoid the band entirely from that point on, or occasionally we decide to further research it’s creators. But a lot of the time, one song is all it takes for us to make that decision. Two, if we’re feeling generous. And in that sense, Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) has beaten us to the punch, releasing their Year of the Rabbit 7”, which contains only two songs. Here, our short attention spans are not only encouraged, they’re facilitated.

Trademarks to Empire! Empire!’s sound are lush, cozy instrumentals and vocals that have a tendency to embrace high notes that Anthony Green & Co. would envy, a combination that makes Year of the Rabbit memorable and seem to have been an effortless success. The A-side of the 7” features the title track, “Year of the Rabbit”, which is home to just enough dreamy guitars, shuffling beats, and a generally soothing tone to fit in perfectly next to your playlist most-dominated by American Football and the like, with vocals that drift between a soft, mumbled melancholy and passionate wails. “Idk, My BFF Jill” is not quite as strong, with the vocals bordering on painful at first, due to some cracking and out of tune yells, but once those initial moments have passed, the band calms down and we’re given some truly great moments, backed by a groaning bass and clanking drums.

Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) could use a little more fine-tuning in the vocal area, as is demonstrated on “Idk, My BFF Jill”, but beyond that, their Year of the Rabbit 7” doesn’t leave much to be desired. If you can chalk the occasional voice-cracking lines up to something that gives the band character, or are able to focus on the calming instrumentals or “Year of the Rabbit’s” all-around strong performance, there is absolutely no reason for Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) not to become a part of even the most hastily judgmental American Football or Mineral fan’s record collection.



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