Listening to The Alice Project’s sophomore release
\nTraveling With Lady Berlin<\/i>, I’m struck with a sense of deja
\nvu… though at least it’s a pleasant one.<\/p>\n
I can’t help but sense that I’ve heard Alice Leon and crew
\nbefore, though it’s been with different bands and different members
\n(none of which included Leon, of course). It’s not an unpleasant
\nexperience by any means, but it leaves me wondering what this band
\nhas that sets them apart from so many other groups with a similar
\nsound. And in the end, I can’t find that one thread of
\ndifference… and that’s the only thing that bothers me.<\/p>\n
Oh, it’s not that The Alice Project have failed on this
\nnine-song, 33-minute effort. Tracks such as “Lady Berlin,” “8-10
\nParliament Street” and “Marilyn’s Things” all have a Sixpence None
\nThe Richer-like vibe when it comes to pop sensibility, and these
\ntracks could easily fit in to any playlist without any listener
\nknowing that The Alice Project wasn’t on a major label. The overall
\nsound, songwriting and performances are that solid.<\/p>\n
And yet, I’m not fully convinced. Tracks like “Uncle,” “I’m Not
\nAfraid To Live” and “How I Wish” often find themselves fading into
\nthe background, not getting the full attachment that the band seems
\nto have on other songs. It’s not that they don’t believe in these
\nnumbers as much; it’s that they don’t have the same emotional power
\nas the solid tracks do. So while they’re pleasing enough to the
\nears, they’re also not as memorable… and The Alice Project is the
\nkind of band who should be writing songs that are memorable for the
\nlistener.<\/p>\n
So what does this mean for the group? Simply this: they have to
\nkeep working at their craft. I have no doubt that the band is good,
\nand I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from checking
\nTraveling With Lady Berlin<\/i> out. But something tells me that
\nwhile this disc has many great moments, it’s still not all that The
\nAlice Project can be. If they push themselves harder when it comes
\nto album number three and write songs that have the same craftiness
\nand emotional power as “Marilyn’s Things,” this band will be on a
\ncollision course for stardom faster than you can say Leigh
\nNash.<\/p>\n
Until then, though,
\nTraveling With Lady Berlin<\/i> is by no means a bad effort, and
\nis worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6526],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36954","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-alice-project","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36954"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36954"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}