Customer Reviews

Suburban Hymns

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

 

 

what a slow burn this baby is...but man it's igniting something grand. this album tricked me. it made me think i didnt like it that much at first. but then, i m an idiot sometimes. most good things in life are have a value that transcends first impressions...sometimes things are so good they take a few minutes to change your tunnel-vision mindset and open your brain to something wonderful. this is one of those things.

i am a GIANT shiner fan and i loved the first LaT EP. the first thing i thought about this album is "too grown up, too happy." but 1: growing up can still be a good thing and 2: is there such a thing as 'too happy?'
the point is this album is full of super-subtle hooks that are like a virus...they get inside you and when you least expect it, you'll be stuck at working thinking you need to hear "Charlotte St." the same way a smoker needs nicotine.

the song construction...the melodies...the whole deal...it's not shiner. it's not old LaT...it's not ANYTHING i've ever heard. so very different and so very majestic.

I never get tired of this one. There isn't a single weak component. The bass guitar, vocals, and songwriting are great, and the drumming is outstanding. It's called "suburban hyms" but manages to not be bubbly major key pop about highschool or unlistenable emo-ish garbage about ex-girlfriends. It's solid rock 'n roll so there is none of the plodding slow droning to common in "indie" type stuff, but it has enough of an indie touch to keep the songs from sounding typical at all. The singer passes my standard test of singing in his own voice. He doesn't sound like he's trying to imitate anyone which for some reason is not the norm.

I like it better than the singer's old band "Shiner" because it seems a little smoother and more polished to me. I really don't see how anyone could really dislike this one.

I was not a little worried when I discovered the new band name and a few track titles that had risen from the ashes of the mighty Shiner--to be honest, they smacked of emo pandering. Conor Oberst is (thankfully) nowhere to be found in this midwestern rock band, so why "Skateland?" Were the dark, abstract poems and sledgehammer riffs of K.C.'s finest to be replaced with warbling ballads about lost childhood toys and such? I figured hey, it's Alan Epley, so it'll at least be worth a few spins for the voice alone.

Track one sets a good level of expectation with the moony, Kevin Shields-esque lead and some well produced vocals, and it segues nicely into a decent uptempo/sad "Coat Of Arms." So far, nothing bad, but nothing great. "Charlotte Street," however, had me worried--pretty directionless speed and heat without a center, and basically lapses into the rare (but real) territory a Shiner song or two did, wherein Jeffrey Jones' criticism in Amadeus ("too many notes!") holds true. Where was the band going? Had the ravages of time finally catching up with our alt-rock superhero's skills?

Fortunately, Epley laughs kindly in my doubting face, turns around and knocks the next 6 tracks out of the park like a pre-drug test era MLB star. I would argue that they stand as some of his best tunes. "Muscle Cars" is built around a simple, catchy and heartbreaking riff; the aforementioned "Skateland" is a great bass riff building to a triumph/tragedy chorus and going out sounding like "Unforgettable Fire" B-side heaven; "Thrill Ride" is a flat-out gorgeous and haunting showcase for this woefully underrated singer's skills. The rock gets amped up for the following three songs in fine style, and leave you feeling like you're catching your breath after a good roll in the hay as the closer "A Chorus Of Crickets" winds down with, um, a few too many notes. Still, I'm proud to say it remains a pleasure to hear the brand of rock and roll Alan Epley graces our ears with, and I hope many, many people make this discovery as The Life And Times weaves across America this year.

This sparsely-worded soundtrack to Allen Epley's view of suburbia is beautiful and compelling in a car-crash sort of way, made even stranger by the fact that (as alluded to in 'Mea Culpa') we are all a part of the landscape AE is describing - "come outside and take a look at what's in there where you just were!", basically. Lyrically, this is word economy at its finest and most effective.

Musically, I'll say this: Normally I'm not impressed when bands blatantly wear their musical influences on their sleeve, but that's due to those bands not having anything of their own to say. The Life And Times is definitely NOT in that mold! While it's easy to hear Radiohead's influence (particularly in the opening track, think "Airbag" from OK Computer), as well as War-era U2 on "Coat of Arms" (think "Two Hearts Beat As One"), that to me simply says that the guys liked those particular sounds and thought them best for their respective songs - and made that a point of departure for their own musical statement. (And both those songs work very well indeed, by the way.)

One nitpick, though: After having listened to the cleaner "demo" version of "Shift Your Gaze" pre-release, the overly-murky production of that number as it appears on this CD made me hold back on that 5th star. I think it was a shame to muddle the lyrics, and overall sound, of what could have been more of a figurative momentary break in the clouds.

Still, what a piece of work this is - !!! Fantastic work, gentlemen.

Sprawling and introspective, leaning into the future and gazing fondly at the past, Allen Epley's "The Life and Times" project has created a masterful work of mood (both good and bad) and energy (all good) that keeps me enthralled with it's brilliance. From the opening haunting melody lines of "My Last Hostage" that pay tribute to My Bloody Valentine without cheapening their memory (yeah i said MEMORY, grow up and face it, kids) to the wistully and occassionally punchy balladic "A Chorus of Crickets", this album takes you to so many places, so many thoughts and feelings that maybe you've had and maybe you haven't about the halcyonity of youth past, and still leaves a candle for belief in a future that's doesn't outright suck.

Those familiar with Shiner will recognize Allen's songwriting immediately, but will also understand that all is change, progression and regression, and artisitcally, neither is necessarily better than the other. These songs are generally simpler (you will not occassionally feel the need of a slide rule to "get it") yet still fresh and exciting.

My favorites here include "Thrill Ride", a murky song you can close your eyes and imagine youself on a perfectly soundless rollercoaster ride, in a soundless lightning storm, quiet bombs landing all around in violent flashes of muffled fire, as you realize a macro view of life that the most horrible traumas you may face are still all a part of the living experience. "Shift Your Gaze", with it's melody and harmony stilted high upon a simple 1 2 3 4 drumbeat that drifts into a chorus that pays homage to it's verses. "Skateland" whiffs passively and pleasently of greasy kid stuff memories and hot summers and how some things used to be, a lazy barely harmonized melody and a break away that puts your memory in reverse only to fast forward through the good parts...ah, Alison, the retarded things we used to do, with your parents a thin wall away.

Spiralling and gorgeous without pretention and egotism, deep and moving all the way down it's deepest and most moving cuts. Well done.

Is halcyonity a word? Balladic? Whatever.

This one (unlike The Flat End of the Earth EP or Shiner's The Egg) took a long time to grow on me, but it eventually did. Standout tracks include 'My Last Hostage', 'Coat of Arms', 'Running Redlights', and 'Mea Culpa'. The rest of the album is filled with more subtle, though eventually haunting tracks ('Thrill Ride', in particular, builds to a beautiful crescendo). Highly recommended to those willing to work a bit for their hooks.

This is another good album I would've never found out about if I weren't working at my college radio station. It's not a great album, and I would argue that it's uneven, but the first 5 songs are pretty good alternative rock tunes. After those 5, however, it loses its steam. These 5 alone, though, satisfy the purchase (especially "My Last Hostage" and "Carlotte St."). I'm not sure who else to compare it to - the singer is sometimes reminiscent of the one from Antarctica, and most of the songs have a lot of energy (though some slow down a bit). The singer is also a *tad* love-him-or-hate-him. The lyrics don't really matter here as they're pretty hard to hear (even IF you're paying close attention). The musicianship is also relatively complex and commendable. Not a bad album, but not a great one either - alternative rock fans should be satisfied. Recommended!

Highlights include:
"My Last hostage"
"Coat Of Arms"
"Charlotte St."
"Muscle Cars"
"Skateland"
"A Chorus Of Crickets" (somewhat)

For me, anything crafted by ex-SHINERite ALLEN EPLEY is highly anticipated and thoroughly enjoyable. That said, when I first ripped open SUBURBAN HYMNS and cranked it, I thought, "that's it?" Unlike it's predacessor, the highly underrated and overly short E.P.-THE FLAT END OF THE EARTH, SubHyms has a delayed hook that doesn't stick to your brain until about the fifth listen where the epiphany of how cool this music is hits your spine and produces its excellent chills. This cd (like FLAT END) puts the listener in a specific mood and keeps them there throughout. For some reason every song reminds me of being a kid circa 1979, playing hide and go seek at dusk without having to worry about the modern dangers in the world. SubHyms has a sense of innocence while it still rocks. The musicianship is superb and as always singer/songwriter EPLEY delivers a sweeping vocal barrage of smooth, haunting hooks that glide over the arrangements. As with FLAT END, SubHyms has a finely polished sound but still sounds as raw as it might have been recorded in EPLEY's basement on some mystical indian summer's eve. Every song is stellar (the SHIFT YOUR GAZE demo fits the mood better, I agree-still a good song though), and by the time SubHyms' pinion piece THRILL RIDE hits you'll be swept away by it's simplistic beauty. Not only a great summer record but arguably THE best alternative rock CD of 2005.