I can never ever get enough pop rock, as long as it's good pop rock. Good pop rock makes me happy. SGT came close to making me happy today. They have some moments of talent in their music, but those moments are balanced out with a lot of mediocre moments. They left me wondering if I would like them more five years from now when they have had more time to practice. My main issue with them is that for every song I listened to I could think of at least three other songs it sounded like. "Goodnight Goodnight" is a beautiful song, but I was hung up on the fact that it sounded like a Hot Hot Heat song and the beginning of "Float On" by Modest Mouse. I want originality from a band, not a well-played mimic. I like when individual skills sound like other bands, like when vocals remind me of another great singer, not when an actual riff or melody line is stolen. The song sounds great, but there are flaws in the breakdown of it.
"Burning Bridges" is a poor display of vocals. A whiny, nasally tone destroys the song. The instruments sound sub-par. I felt like the production of this song was rushed, like they didn't have enough time to re-record the vocals or they had to write the guitar parts on a deadline. The song fails musically and does so in a miserable fashion.
"Two Hearts" has decent instrumental parts, but the whiny vocals ruin the fun. I could not get past the strained vocals enough to really appreciate everything else happening in the song. I wanted to give the vocalist some lozenges to fix the issue. The song just does not please the ears. It is brash, rough and messy.
I honestly believe that if SGT polished their act a little more, they could make some exceptional music, but unfortunately the sound is not quite there yet. Nice effort, but no gold stars for SGT.
Thank you for reading. Shuffle on.
Photo credit: http://www.purevolume.com/sgt/photos/239530
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