{"id":538,"date":"2011-06-13T05:00:26","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=538"},"modified":"2011-06-13T05:00:26","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T10:00:26","slug":"ep-review-almost-free-ininout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/13\/ep-review-almost-free-ininout\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review: Almost Free – In\/Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember the 80s. I was there. Any while some might recall big hair, shoulder pads, parachute pants and mullets, there was some very cool music. Not the MTV-centric stuff that was based more on visuals than music (Thompson Twins<\/strong>, I\u2019m looking at you), but genuinely interesting bands like The Police, U2, XTC, The Smiths, REM<\/strong>. And lesser-known artists created some tuneful, hooky stuff as well, music that wasn\u2019t afraid to acknowledge a debt to that which had come before.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking about all of this as I spin In\/Out<\/em>, a four-song EP from Almost Free<\/strong>. At a shade under fifteen minutes, it\u2019s barely a taste of what the band is about, but it\u2019s an intriguing one. \u201cReally Don\u2019t Know (About You)\u201d is built around ensemble playing from this trio. Each instrument is turning out a part designed to work within the context of the song.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s got hooks, but it\u2019s not a showcase for one particular instrument. Andy Bird<\/strong>\u2019s vocals are clear, and mixed high enough that you can actually hear what he\u2019s singing about. Mumblecore this ain\u2019t; the insistently repeated title phrase is almost a mantra, albeit one of the new wave\/powerpop variety. His guitar lines have that skittering vibe that The Edge<\/strong> employed so effectively on early U2 albums, but the trio doesn\u2019t really sound a whole lot like U2. Bird plays melodic riffs that mostly eliminate the need for traditional solos.<\/p>\n

Bob Impemba<\/strong> holds down the bass and synth, and when it comes to the latter, he\u2019s especially effective. The songs aren\u2019t \u201csynthy\u201d in that oh-so-dated 80s way; the synth lines weave in and out of the mix, as often as not acting as a rhythmic device. \u201cGeneration Y\u201d is the best example of the effectiveness of this approach; here they sound a bit like The Producers<\/strong> or The Killer Whales<\/strong> (go look \u2018em up; both were really good new wave groups circa 1981).<\/p>\n

Almost Free aren\u2019t slavishly retro, either: while these four songs owe a clear debt to what we used to call college rock, they apply a modern sheen. Garren Stevens\u2019<\/strong> drumming is precise and powerful, and it too helps alleviate the need for a second guitar. On \u201cTimes We Used to Have\u201d his playing adds shade and light to the track, punctuating the song with enough stops and starts to keep the listener engaged, while avoiding the sort of showy playing that might push the band toward math-rock or somesuch.<\/p>\n

Impemba\u2019s bass line on \u201cDon\u2019t Bother Me Now (Adultescent)\u201d gives the song an ambience very reminiscent of The Teardrop Explodes<\/strong>, but the throbbing synth and power-chording guitar work help create something a bit more sweeping and grand.<\/p>\n

And, well, that\u2019s it. Almost Free are a band worth watching; it will be interesting to watch them develop, and to discover what they deliver on a full-length. The In\/Out<\/em> EP suggests it will be worth checking out.<\/p>\n

(Edited June 14 2011)<\/font><\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> The original edit of my review referred to the disc’s title as <\/em>In\/Inout. I have since learned that mine was an early misprinted copy. Here’s hoping it soon achieves the mythical, collectable status of the Beatles<\/strong>‘ butcher cover version of <\/em>Yesterday…and Today. — ed.<\/p>\n

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I remember the 80s. I was there. Any while some might recall big hair, shoulder pads, parachute pants and mullets, there was some very cool music. Not the MTV-centric stuff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}