Trading My Life [EP, Original recording reissued]

Liars Academy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 29, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP, Original recording reissued
• Label: Equal Vision Records
• ASIN: B00006JJ4O
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,635 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

On their newest EP, these ex-members of Cross My Heart and Strike Anywhere play polished and melodic hook-laden songs that ...see site for more info.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ., December 21, 2002

By 

Scott Heisel (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trading My Life (Audio CD)

The Liars Academy, for those who don't know, contains ex/current members of Cross My Heart, Dead Red Sea, and Strike Anywhere. But you'd be hard pressed to find any indication of any of those bands in the Liars Academy's sound. While CMH and DRS would be lumped in with the Deep Elm "emo" sound, and Strike Anywhere is hard-hitting fast paced punk rock. the Liars Academy falls more along the lines of straightforward rock.

As this 4 song EP plays out, I hear a lot of the mid-nineties rock sound - think Superdrag, for a starting point. The songs themselves aren't anything too challenging - each stays within the confines of your basic 4/4 "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-guitar solo-chorus out" form. The lyrics are stereotypically vague, all focusing around the song title for the hooks [especially in EP closer "It's Not Me, It's You," which just gets annoying after hearing that phrase over and over towards the end of the song]. Singer Ryan Shelkett's voice shines the most on the title track - I could see this song climbing the college/modern rock charts with enough of a push.

Overall, this EP sounds like an indie rock version of Pete Yorn - take a tinge of country, plus a pinch of roots rock, coupled with guitar solos that throw back to the 60's and 70's, and you have this band. It's all been done before, but the Liars Academy does a good enough job of rehashing to make it sound fresh.

3.0 out of 5 stars Emotion and A Sense of Wonder, May 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Trading My Life (Audio CD)

This is an amazing little piece of music. Wonderful talent making it as well ex/members from Cross My Heart,Strike Anywhere, and Dead Red Sea.

The Opening track is stellar. Nice guitar grooves. The rhythm is superb. The Lead singers voice (Ryan Shelkett) is a perfect match with the melody. The rest of the album is a little weaker then the title track but are all interesting enough to keep your attention.

The lyrics are very sweet and subtle with emotion and a sense of wonder. And the singer deals with the raw emotion of wanting to escape a lot on this record. Over all it will remind you of early 90s pop/rock songs.

If this band put more time into every song like track one. Well they would be easily a favorite band to many rock fans. But that is yet to be seen. Over all a good record but the band shows depth and maybe the next record will be a little more inspiring.