Our Lives In Motion

Stages EP

Written by: TL on 03/01/2012 23:03:14

As I'm starting to get the reviewing ball rolling, doesn't it seem nice and fitting to keep at it with a band called Our Lives In Motion? Their EP "Stages" is another one that has actually been out for a long time - and until I start catching up, this is going to be a theme I'm afraid. Anyway, the band consists of four young men from Worcester, Massachusets, and from what I've been able to learn about them, "Stages" is the follow-up to their 2010 debut EP "Salvation In Secrets". What "Salvation In Secrets" sounded like, I have no idea, but judging from the music on "Stages" (and the band's own facebook), Our Lives In Motion are keen to align themselves with a growing number of bands that curiously label themselves "Rock/ambient", despite the fact that I think most people would rather think of them as melodic scene/post-hardcore and compare them to the likes of Conditions and Saosin.

Reading the band's line-up description, their setup is supposedly a traditional vocals/guitar/bass/drums constellation, but it quickly becomes apparent that either somebody is rather snappy with some pedals, or else some programming also has entered the recording somewhere along the way. What this means is that you get a familiar dose of highly melodic, dramatically soaring, with lofty tunes on top of crunchy chords and some digital keys and strings sounding in here and there. It's not terribly original, but as we all know, it doesn't have to be, so long as it is done convincingly.

There's one small problem before that can be said to be the case however, and it lies in my opinion with singer Dave Beaudreau's contribution. Fans of this sort of music have been spoiled with some absolutely stunning vocalists in the past - Anthony Green, Jonny Craig, Charles Finn - and a guy like Beaudreau is in the deep end of the pool when his somewhat thin and overly polished croon is compared to parade of dudes who routinely belt out insane notes in this genre. What I'm saying here is that there's nothing technically awful about the job he's done, but comparing Our Lives In Motion to the competition, the voice and charisma he brings to the table does appear to me as the band's weakest link.

Loads of post-hardcore/scenecore/'ambient-rock' listeners seem to have been fine with similar singers however (see: both the current and former Jamie's Elsewhere singers), and if you're one of them, then you're probably also one to easily appreciate the lofty moods carried by songs like "Unstoppable" and "Recovery", both of which include decent examples of the good old "bright melody on top of pseudo-breakdown" approach. Like "Stages" and seemingly Our Lives In Motion all together, it's not yet something you haven't heard quite a few times before, but other than that, there's isn't really all that much else to complain about.

6

Download: Unstoppable, Recovery
For The Fans Of: Conditions, Built On Secrets, City Escape
Listen: facebook.com/ourlivesinmotion

Release Date 03.05.2011
Self-released

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.