Grey Milk

"City Parks After Dark" CD

Nobody's Favorite Records

Genre: acoustic rock

Sep 29 2008

Jesse Houle and Sean Watson comprise Grey Milk, a sadly bland acoustic rock band. The majority of the songs on City Parks After Dark fall flat. As happens with many "unplugged" rock bands, a reliance on chugging strumming makes the compositions sound ragged and amateurish. Add to that some frequently tuneless vocals, and you've got a problem. While I do appreciate the hooks on "Uprooted, Part I" and "Missing," for the most part these songs fail to click. "Postcards" starts off promising but eventually drowns in its own exasperated angst, "Bad, Bad News" is too close to open mic night at the student pub, and five minute "Running Circles" is five cluttered minutes too long. As it stands, City Parks After Dark is the worst record I've heard from this usually consistent label.

grey milk's myspace

60%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 13 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2008]