NEVERWORDLY

This is a weak yet promising first release, ranging from unusual to tired same-old music. I'll give an overall review first, then notes on each song individually for anyone who wants that level of detail.

Strengths:

- Variation/experimentation

- Fresh sound

- Unconventional instrument mix

Weaknesses:

- Vocals

- Slips into clichés

- Ineffective juxtaposition

- Mixing

Neutral:

- Naiveté

- Lyrics

Overall Notes: This album strikes me as the most mainstream of mainstream rock that very precise prog and jazz interrupts at regular intervals. The digressions away from the main themes in each song were clearly well-planned and well-executed, but the rest of the music is so basic - and so alike - that those creative experiments don't quite bring this up to the level of a 'good' album.

This band shows right from the first track that they are not afraid to experiment. There are at least 5 different 'styles' that I was able to detect in the first song alone. Unfortunately, the underlying texture is always the same - very simple guitar strumming or picking, almost always simple acoustic style, and often in the same key! The first three songs are all in the same key, the next three are in the same key as each other, and three of the songs on the rest of the album are in the same key as the first three songs were. This in itself wouldn't be a problem if the drums, guitar, and lead vocals weren't playing so similarly throughout the album in general. The experimental parts of the music are not enough to distract attention from this homogeneity, so a lot of the album falls flat. In addition, the drums and lead vocals are often much too high in the mix, drowning out the other instruments. The CD also suffers from transition problems in which songs fade out in odd places, and the next song starts jarringly while the previous song is still quite loud. The saxophone and female backing vocals are often so quiet they can barely be identified.

Add to this the occasional clichés, lyrics that sometimes do not fit the music, the poor mixing, and the often off-pitch lyrics (both Steve and Joanna Katsikas are guilty of this, although her a lot less so), and it looks dire for this album. The good news is, there are several standout songs on this album that do not suffer from these problems: 'Alive,' 'Inside of Me,' 'Seek the Grey,' and, to an extent, 'Little Atlas.' The first track hooks the attention of the listener, but once the entire album has been heard several times it too falls into the 'too similar to the other songs' category. When a style that can be called 'unique' to Little Atlas comes through, it's a fresh, almost naïve sound that I found compelling and promising. The use of saxophone and some unusual keyboards as well as sudden forays into jazz also gives them points from me.

What this all adds up to is that this is not a great album, and I wouldn't even call it a good album, but it also is not a bad album. It's the kind of album that says to me, 'The next one they release has the potential to be fantastic, if they leave their stumbling points behind here.'

Starting off the album with a promising four-minute experiment, 'Living Outside of My Head' secured my interest within the first minute. Little Atlas uses an unusual mix of styles in this song. Starting with conventional guitar picking, the focus quickly moves to the vocals. The lead vocals (male) struck me as somewhat lacking both in tone and pitch, but my interest piqued when a nice female voice showed up in the background. Intrigued at the odd mix, as the two vocalists sang in completely different styles, the song began to weave in elements of '50s-style rockabilly, '60s rock, and a smooth, crooning texture reminiscent of The Rat Pack. A guitar solo starting at about 2:10 brings in both a country and a prog feel at the same instant, and transitions into a short brass-driven jazz section. Amazingly, these elements blend together seamlessly, and transition with no break into the next track.

'Give Myself Away' rests on the textures created in the first song, subtly incorporating a sax playing an underlying melody. While pleasant, this song lacks energy overall. There are a few quick-moving guitar parts that last a few seconds, but the music quickly returns to a gentle, generic light rock sound (which would be more enjoyable if it were more emotionally compelling). The singer again is inconsistent in his pitch, and his gravelly approach to higher pitches in singing begins to bother me. This song also transitions smoothly into the following track.

'Little Atlas' brings the energy level back up, while keeping the overall sound light. Guitars and keyboards overlap nicely with several layers, and the vocals are somewhat better on this track. The song becomes more frenetic as it goes on, right until the end, although it never reaches anything truly frantic. Here, we have the first short silence on the album between tracks.

'Hiding In the Shadows' starts off quietly, then moves into a Nevermore-like melodramatic-sounding chorus (interestingly, Katsikas' vocals sound quite a bit like Warrel Dane from Nevermore on this track). The chorus itself has a very familiar chord progression, beat, and melody that appears in a lot of darker music I've heard, and since this album came out in 1998, I have to say this is a rather cliché piece of music. However, the rest of the song is often interesting, incorporating the sax again with some lovely soft keyboards.

'Harlow's Monkeys,' while fun, also tends to slip into clichés, this time of '60s and '70s rock. I've essentially heard this song, in different forms, many times in a diner near where I live (they're always playing that '60s vibrations station). There is an interesting bridge at around 2:00 in which the song briefly turns a little darker, providing some relief from the otherwise relentless happy-go-lucky mood. This is followed by the most complex guitar solo so far, which fits quite well and brings the song to a more exciting level. Unfortunately, the song ends by returning to the earlier, less interesting theme. The vocals on this track are too nasal for my taste, but they are on pitch. This song is the main example of the 'ineffective juxtaposition' I mentioned earlier. The lyrics seem too unhappy for the extreme major tonality of the music. Sometimes, bands can make this sound even more sad, or sarcastic, but in this case it was either unsuccessful or I missed something in the lyrics.

'Love is All Around' starts out with an angsty mood and a slight wah-wah effect on the guitar. Up until about 1:40, I find this to be the most interesting song so far. The chorus falls a little flat, though, making it at about the same level for me as the first and 3rd songs. At this point on the album I have noticed that every song melds more than just three basic parts (verse, chorus, bridge) together. There are five or six distinct themes in this relatively short song. I'm a little taken aback by the way the song suddenly fades out in the middle of a chorus repetition and blends (not seamlessly) into the beginning of the next song.

'Take the Chance' again reminds me of some '60s mainstream rock, but containing more detail and layers, including another decent guitar solo. I find this song's style also reminds me of 'Can't Stand Losing You' by The Police. The ending is again both abrupt and lacks punch, blending clumsily into 'Alive'.

'Alive' itself is likely the best all-around song on the album. This is the first song in which I really start to hear a unique and cohesive style that is more than several different textures side-by-side. I detect sounds reminiscent of David Bowie, The Police, The Who, and even something in the vocals that reminds me of Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, all blended together at once rather than touched on separately. This song is touching and beautiful, and has a blissful mood overall.

'Inside of Me' suddenly incorporates a very progressive style of keyboard playing into its verse, which would otherwise be generic upbeat rock. While the chorus is again slightly cliché, it is very effective and blends beautifully into a variation at about 2:00. A rockin' guitar solo follows (I'm seeing a pattern here, are you?). This time the verse is interesting enough that the return to it is eagerly awaited. The off-pitch vocals return in this track, which is a shame because it's one of the most fun songs on the album.

'Seek the Grey' alternately ushers in the darkness and shoves it back. This song might represent the most creative songwriting on the CD. The opposing chord progressions in different sections of the song do an effective job of tugging at a listener's emotions.

'I Might Let You Fall' is a bit of a let-down after the previous two tracks. While proficient as all the tracks have been so far, this just feels like more of the same as 'Take the Chance', 'Harlow's Monkeys' and 'Give Myself Away'. It seems that while each song on this album has a lot of variation with it, many of the songs are unduly similar to each other. The song itself is at least pleasant, even though it doesn't blow me away.

'Picture of Your Soul' suffers from the same problem - it is quite similar to other songs on the album. The same competent musicianship is displayed, and the same general song structure prevails. 'Seek the Grey' or 'Alive' would have been better choices to fill the last spot on the album.