It\u2019s pretty well-known that I will review anything even slightly reminiscent of Queen. All any indie act has to do is namecheck those quintessential glitz-rockers and I\u2019ll lend an ear. Usually, however, a little Freddie Mercury-esque posturing goes a long way \u2013 as in, less directly ripping off their inimitable bombast (The Darkness? Muse? Mika?) and more so throwing in just the right amount of harmonies, swagger, and rich instrumentation. <\/p>\n
A Bit Much hails from Boston, Massachusetts and has recently a punchy, flavorful EP, You Deserve It. <\/i>Even better? They cite Vincent Price, Anton Chekhov, and Freddie Mercury\u2019s mustache among their influences, portending the sort of tongue-in-cheek energy that launched millions of foot stomping and hand claps. <\/p>\n
Opener \u201cMinimum Rhythm, Maximum Blues\u201d launches out with a bluesy groove, anchored by the excellently upbeat keyboards (Tim Lillis) and their penchant for harmonies. This is as strong a beginning as any, drawing you into their witty, fast-paced world. Next up, \u201cStarvation Wage\u201d cranks up the guitars and the pathos. The harmonies sound tighter on this one, which was my only real quibble with \u201cMinimum Rhythm, Maximum Blues,\u201d allowing the instrumental play to stand out: swirling guitars, delicate accents of piano, and Jon Glancy\u2019s perfectly subtle thrash of drums. The synthesizers get a bit Styx-ish for my tastes near the end, but they mix it up in a way that foretells some future invention.<\/p>\n
Overall, You Deserve It <\/i>reads somewhat like a snapshot of \u201870s classic rock. There\u2019s the uptempo arena stormers, the meandering, psychedelic guitar freakout (the nearly ten-minute long \u201cYou\u2019re Blessing Me\u201d with its slight overtones of the Pink Floyd doom ushered in by layered guitars and ambiance), and hilariously overt titles (\u201cI Can Rock Nobody Like Nobody\u2019s Been Rocked Before\u201d), which sounds like AC\/DC at a piano bar in a strangely agreeable way. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, closer \u201cBy The People\u201d is the slow-burner that rounds everything out at the end of a show before the encore kicks in. It\u2019s more sparely considered, with the swerving interplay of guitars and keys and Degan McDegan\u2019s just short of over-the-top vocalization. You can almost imagine him in a sequined catsuit for the way that he belts it out, voice soaring to the rafters in a way that rings a lot truer than, say, Justin Hawkins\u2019 (The Darkness) almost painful wailing. His cheerful bombast gives a lightness to these tracks that pairs well with the textured melodies.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019ve namechecked basically every classic rock hitmaker in this review, but it\u2019s for good reason, and not in a way that\u2019s meant to disparage A Bit Much\u2019s creativity. They\u2019ve taken some of the best sounds of music\u2019s history and worked them to their benefit. And better yet, you can tell that they\u2019d be an excellent live show. Mr. Mercury\u2019s mustache would be more than intrigued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":30394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8606],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42056","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-a-bit-much","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42056","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42056"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42056"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}