Customer Reviews

Borrowers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This band was a short-lived alchemy kind-of led by Mark Addison & Nina Singh. For more music like it, try the band "Kitty Gordon". Saw them live in Fort Worth, Texas and every single song rocked. The CD is catchy, inspiring, and original. Highly recommended.

This is one of my favorite bands. The first time I heard them, I liked them so much I went up to the lead singer (Mark) afterwards and told him I thought they were fabulous. Which I've *never* done before. Every song is dynamite, though my current favorite is "Mercy Bound." Buy this! You'll love it (especially if you like mandolin, strings, and bass clarinet, and massively tasteful arrangements). And if you get a chance to see them live--go! They do some serious jamming.

One of my pet peeves is to listen to here a great song by a band and then discover when I get the album that either every song on the album sounds so much alike it becomes tedious, or that they wrote one cool song and the rest was garbage.

The Borrower's is NOT one of those bands. I picked up their album at a used CD shop because when I sampled the first few songs I realized the musicians had created a sonicly and rhythmically rich ambience...but as I replayed the album I found that it was a superbly crafted album, from start to finish. The lyrics are enticing and intriguing, each song telling a great story through imagery and capturing the attention with brilliant melodies that float over a rich arrangment of instruments.

What's more, the band is willing to experiment and present songs that fearlessly step out of the norm ("Helicopter" for example), and they can really rock when they do. Other songs have less driving beats but set incredible moods ("Nervous Heart"), and feature Nina Singh's superb drumming skills.

All told, this is a fantastic album and I lament that the band did not last long enough to produce a second album.

It is a hard thing to do to wow em at every turn, but this album does it, nice music that doesn't overpower your eardrums with too much of anything, it is like a painting where anything more added would ruin the beauty that is there. I say go out and buy this CD, it is more than worth the price.

This CD is one that you can put on your changer and leave it there. It sounds great when ever you hear it. The diversity of songs and instuments is refreshing. The words are amazing and truthful. Mercy Bound and Beatiful Struggle are full of emotion then there are some harder edged songs like over it and Olphelia that are straight off of modern rock radio. LOVE IT

I don't know if anyone remembers a band called Trapeze from way back... they put out an album called Medusa and this album at times reminds me of the title track. The track Helicopter has a brooding intensity that grabs me without having the tired nihilistic flair that characterizes so much new music. I always look for listenability in an album, followed by the ability to stand up to repeated listening. For example, My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" has both qualities in spades and constitutes an end point on this kind of scale (with, say, anything by Peter Frampton occupying the other end). This album rates about an 8 as far as I'm concerned. Catchy without being simplistic.

It is a good sign when you can't quite put a "label" on a band. This band is sort of like REM, add a dash of Smashing Pumpkins and a little Bob Dylan...These tunes are crafted with a variety of tempos, instruments and rythmns. The lyrics have to be pondered a little, they are not one phrase anthems, you have to listen to "the song" to comprehend what they're saying. Refreshing, even if you don't agree with them.The song i liked the best is hidden in track 10, no title,no lyrics, great sad tune...I bought this 2 years age and have listened to other stuff out there and i keep coming back for a listen.

Given their skillful devotion to alt rock arena cliches, these guys were destined for mega stardom or obscurity. Needless to say, it turned out to be the latter, which is a shame because they make pretty pleasant music in the style of radio giants like Foo Fighters and The Goo Goo Dolls. Why do some bands make it while others flounder? Is it something about the lyrics? The tone of the vocals? Is it timing? Promotion? Perhaps the question cannot be answered. The album is quite enjoyable for those who enjoy the genre, and is recommended in spite of it's obscurity, trouble is, people who like this kind of music trend away from the unfamiliar, it a catch 22.