The first full-length album for Texas natives Barely Blind retains the signature sound heard on the band's prior EPs, but also brings new depth and a few hidden tricks.
Kicking off with "Silver Lake," the quartet shows how far it have come in the last eight years. Written before the band's recent move to Los Angeles, the opening track serves to delineate the start of a new direction for the group as it steps up and out, both musically and personally.
The title song hits halfway through the 10-track album and shows a slower, quieter side without falling into the acoustic cliché. While guitars generally dominate the musical landscape, "Wilder Child" hands the reins over to Will Smith's drum-led beat.
While there are no lackluster tracks tucked away as forgettable filler, the tracks that stand out the most are the ones that have something particularly special to offer. "How to Sail the Atlantic Alone" boasts an excellent chorus, and follows hard on the heels of the retrospective lyrics weaved into "Inner Child."
"Purgatory Creek" and " Can't Expect" would have felt right at home on My Life with a Giant, and serve to keep Barely Blind close to its roots while the band explores new – and generally calmer – waters in "Love (Isn't Everything)" and "Una Bella."
The album ends like it opens. "Nature of the Beast," which was released as a video last winter, provides an anthemic relative to "Silver Lake." It proclaims the band's ideal of living life to the fullest in the manner you wish as vocalist Brad Cuccio emphasizes in the chorus, singing, "I live like I live/ and no I don't wanna,/ no I don't wanna change."
Barely Blind took the financial risk of releasing the album as a free download, but will most likely profit by expanding its fan base.
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Photo: Mhdariby / Wikimedia Commons
