Mustang Daily

Issue date: 4/19/06 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: www.evanblues.com

At this very moment go ahead and ask yourself who your favorite "one-hit wonder" is? I assure you it is ok to admit it, we all have our one song that we have loved since the seventh grade from an embarrassing artist. Some popular responses may very well be Marcy Playground, Chumbawumba, or maybe even Willa Ford.

Well there is a new band that has been getting a profusion of support from rock music lovers and radio stations that I predict may eventually join this elite assembly of underachievers. Evans Blue have released their debut album The Melody & the Energetic Nature of Volume and a hit single titled "Cold, But I'm still here" which is getting constant radio play from your local radio station 93.1 The Fox. The single is average and the rest of the album provides more mediocre material.

I must admit, I jumped to a quick negative scrutiny of this band. As the first note sung by the lead vocalist played through my car speakers, I was floored. Not the kind where you are speechless and simply amazed by the artistic genius of the production, no, quite from it. I was floored because I thought I may have accidently gotten my cd mixed up and I was listening to a Maynard James Keenan side project (Tool, A Perfect Circle). I understand in many of my reviews I compare the sound to other artists but this is unavoidable.

On many songs like the album's intro track "A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed," the instrumentals sound like that of Breaking Benjamin and the crooning vocal style draws comparison to Maynard James Keenan. The song that is worth giving a second or even a third listen would be "Stop and Say You Love Me". This song provides a very simplistic guitar riff that will surely leave you with the urge to nod your head until the heartfelt chorus is belted out into your ear drums. I believe "Stop and Say…" will be the sophomore single from this production. If all of this doesn't sound too appealing, you can always try the Sarah McLachlan cover "Possession" that left me stunned when I heard it.

I have heard from a peer that the element that separates Evans Blue from such acts as Earshot, Tool and A Perfect Circle is that they put on a better live performance at concerts. I have seen two of the prior mentioned three and I doubt such a thing. If you would like to judge that for yourself you can go check them out as they are on the 103.1 X-Fest lineup in Noblesville, Indiana on 5/27/06.

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