Red This Ever
Selfless
Posted: Monday, June 22, 2009
By: Trubie Turner
A strong debut showing significant promise for the future with their mastery of the past.
Selfless is the first full length album from Baltimore's Red This Ever. Showing influences from a large spectrum of genres, their gloomy vocals and guitar riffs show a surface kinship to gothic rock, but the addition of more retro-styled synth lines give the act a feel that conjures memories of some of the stronger acts of the '80s, but with a distinctly darker edge.
Showing flashes of acts like the Psychedelic Furs, Oingo Boingo, and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, tracks like "Default," "Giveaway," or "3 Years" successfully capture the same spirit as these bands, with infectious choruses that ingrain themselves in your memory and inspire singing along with them. While continuously proving themselves to be quite capable of some excellent composition and coming up with very compelling hooks, Red This Ever unfortunately falls a bit short lyrically, at times sounding like a child's poem. The simplistic rhyming scheme employed in tracks such as "Nobody" or "Irresistible" can come across as rather hokey and distracting in songs that are otherwise exceptionally well put together. Thankfully, the rich and warm vocals do ease the pain of the occasionally excessive and somewhat forced rhyming that can make Red This Ever a little harder to take seriously.
Red This Ever is obviously a strong group of musicians, very talented at writing memorable hooks and warm melodies that stick with the listener much like the classic bands of the '80s whose work still resonates today. Though some fault can certainly be found in the lyrics at times, the impact is generally modest and does not make the album any less impressive. With the great skill and promise shown in this debut, one can not help but be very anxious to see what comes from Red This Ever next.