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Valet:
Life on the Installment Plan
Valet employs a pretty simple formula for most of the songs on Life on the Installment Plan, and for the most part, it seems to work for them: weary vocals with a hint of maturity that are sung overtop constantly jangling guitars. Throw in a bit of acoustic guitar and piano, and the result is an album full of pleasing, mid-tempo pop songs. While the aforementioned formula does seem to work, the tempo slows even more around track five, Make It through the Winter, and the album would begin to grow dreary if not for the engaging lyrics that shine through the increasingly routine melodies. With lines such as You had the last word but I must have missed it/If youre the goodbye, I must have kissed it and You got tied up tying him down/And I got weighed down waiting around, Valet offers up witty ways to tell the same old love story. Still, by track eight, Zurich Revisited, I cant help but find myself growing a bit bored with Valets formula and wishing they would vary their sound somewhat perhaps by speeding things up, or maybe by making the guitars do something besides jangle in the background. Instead, the formula continues until the closing track, Get Your Riot Gear. Its a pretty piece with mostly piano and acoustic guitar, in which the slightly more earnest vocals are pushed way to the front of the mix. Finally, here is some variation, but it comes just in time for the album to end. Overall, it is safe to say that Valets Robin Kyle possesses a gift for songwriting and has hit a stride that suits the band, but it cant hurt to tinker with this tried and true formula and see what results can be yielded.
This album can be purchased at 2024 Records About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
