 The
William Academy
"Five Fight Songs" CDEP
Ground
Control Records / Sign Language Records
Genres: indie rock, alternative rock, synth-pop
Ground Control
834 Park Place
Suite 3A
Brooklyn, NY 11216
May 10 - 16 2004 |
Is this the new face of synth-pop? I'll be honest - I sure hope
not. The William Academy's Five Fight Songs EP
isn't necessarily a bad release - in fact, its fast-paced, synth-infused rock sound
can be quite exhilarating - but the band's melodic sensibility is far from
impressive, and lots of this gets monotonous. "Erase Me" and "What I Want" are good examples
of the worse side of this disc. Their hooks are unvaried and
tiresome, and the high-energy tempo gets somewhat bland as the song
progresses. There are also, however, some good Fight Songs
on this EP. "Northern Boys" is an inspired, memorable
alterna-rock-cum-synth-pop offering, and "Let's Pretend (Let's
Forget)" boasts an extremely infectious chorus.
Don't throw away your Human League collection yet; The
William Academy still have a lot of work to do if they're looking
to take over the modern synth-pop scene. But keep an eye out for
these folks - in a few years, they could really have something.
At this point, they are about as promising as an obscure, NYC-based
indie rock band can get - and, believe me, that's a compliment.
76%
Fun Fact: I counted two instances on
this record where you could hear Microsoft Windows sounds behind the
music. Two different songs, two different sounds. I could
be wrong, and they could actually be part of the music, but it seems
to me that The William Academy may want to do away with this
type of extraneous audio as it sounds kind of silly.
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 5 tracks, distributed by the
band, released 2003] |
