Artist: Actors
Title: It will come to you
Genre: Post-Punk
Release Date: 9th March 2018
Label: Artoffact Records
Album Review
Vancouver based self-categorized Post-Post-punk band ACTORS deliver their first full length album. ‘It will come to you’. ‘L’appel Du Vide’, the pre-album track, awoke appetite for things to come and ACTORS don’t disappoint. They present 80s influenced Post-Punk-Pop with great melodies and varying vocals. Musically the sound consists of classic Rock band cast: male lead vocals with added male / female backing vocals, guitar, bass and drums plus synth layers. The overall production level of the album is pristine; all is crystal-clear and not over-compressed. For me the sound of the album is very well balanced and never starts to bug. The band has a good feel for melodies and singing parts that stick in the head without being too cheesy. All songs have a cosy melancholy in common.
Opening-track of the album is the before mentioned ‘L’appel Du Vide’ which has a great 80s style sound without being too old-fashioned. It starts with straight forward drums with added guitars and very well fitting male vocals. Just after 1-2 listenings you won’t forget the hypnotic and repeating line “into the shadows”. Second track, ‘Slaves’, is one of the obvious hits on the album. Starting with a great drum / bass rhythm the track develops into a great chorus with storytelling guitars and a lot of reverb on the vocals. The following tracks, ‘Face Meets Glass’ and ‘Hit To The Head’, have titles, which you can recall how they are sung when you just read them. This speaks for the ability of the band to create catchy songs. ‘Face meets Glass’ features female vocals in the middle and a great 80s vibe is created with that! ‘Crosses’ is a bit slower in tempo and offers a first breathing pause. The main vocals are now offered in falsetto which could be not everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it! There is a little bit less Pop attitude in this track, but it has a great atmosphere and the drums offer a lot to explore under headphones.
‘Bury Me’ is another stomper with a little bit distortion on the vocals. The chorus sticks again in the head, very nice! ‘Crystal’ starts with a synth line and a straight drum pattern. The typical ACTORS sound appears when the guitar starts to play in the chorus. The chorus is catchy again and this makes it a great impression too! Be warned, the following song, ‘We Don’t Have To Dance’, is a lie. You definitely have to dance to this tune! This is an up-tempo track with another great chorus. The second to last track, ‘Let It Grow’ seems to be the first filler to me in this very well performing album. It is not that bad, but it is far behind the tracks before. The end of the album is marked from the last track, ‘Bird In Hand’, which is an instrumental. You can hear that the ACTORS guys have fun with their synths too.
ACTORS, very well done! The album sounds very mature and has a lot of strong tracks with outstanding melodies and catchy vocals. Only point of criticism could be that the songs could be more different but one could say ACTORS found their style. Congrats to this fulminant debut!
Tracklist
01. L’appel Du Vide
02. Slaves
03. Face Meets Glass
04. Hit to the Head
05. Crosses
06. Bury Me
07. Crystal
08. We Don’t Have to Dance
09. Let It Grow
10. Bird in Hand
Line-up
Jahmeel Russell - bass, vocals
Shannon Hemmett - synth, vocals
Jason Corbett - vocals, guitar
Adam Fink - drums
Website
actorstheband.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
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