Song: Closure Maybe
Band: Ledaswan
Genre: Fey Acoustic
Album: N/a
Label:
Website: www.ledaswanmusic.com
Bottom line: Delicate acoustic song for the morning after.
Ledaswan features a female lead singer, which means that “Closure Maybe” also features female leads. They stand out against the simple acoustic backdrop of this song, as is the way with most acoustic songs. Erica Gutierrez (as that is her name) provides some soft, emotive singing to propel this song along, and while it doesn’t really break any ground, there’s no denying that it’s a fragile, beautiful vocal set she has provided for this song. Fans of Rilo Kiley or Death Cab for Cutie will find much to love in this little song- it’s a beautiful, bleary-eyed coffee-song.
Song: The Sex Talk, Slacking, and Four Letter Words
Band: Skill of Lying
Genre: Emo
Album: Amberlighting EP
Label: N/a
Website: http://theskilloflying.port5.com/
Bottom line: Good, but there’s been better.
The only problem in the emo blast that is “The Sex Talk, Slacking, and Four Letter Words” is the sung vocals. I’ve determined that the difference between a good emo band and a bad one is the sung vocals, because it sure isn’t the screamed ones or the guitar proficiency. All emo bands can play their guitars as weapons, punch the tempos with accented drums, and scream ferociously. The better ones can change time signatures and syncopate and use good songwriting skill to keep things interesting. Skill of Lying has done all of that, making this a pretty good emo song. The problem hits in the sung vocals- they’re okay, but they just don’t have the continuously interesting tone that some bands have. You can’t say that the singer from MeWithoutYou has a great singing voice- but it is ALWAYS, always interesting. That’s what you need to capture in an emo song- emotion poured out in unique ways. Skill of Lying is a solid emo band. They just needs to work on some vocal delivery.