Gatsbys American Dream is already releasing their second album and they've barely yet been a band. While most bands spend years upon years trying to get notoriety, this band pops up out of nowhere, gets a record deal with Rocketstar Recordings and releases two albums in two years. With that said, "Ribbons & Sugar" (the title comes from Animal Farm) does not sound like an album from a fairly new band.
But first, the biggest problem I had with it was the artwork. Honestly, if I had seen this album in a store, I wouldn't have picked it up. I don't know how influenced you are by artwork, but I was unimpressed with the color scheme and the overall layout. I understand that the animal-men on the front are representative of Animal Farm (at least that's what I'm assuming) but it just did nothing for me.
So with that out of the way, let's talk about the music. Now the music I was fairly impressed by. The album starts out with some hand-clapping that made me wonder if I was about to hear The Supremes crooning "Where Did Our Love Go?". But then the handclapping gave way to the opening song which reminded me of No Knife and we were on our way. "Ribbons & Sugar" is a fast-paced rock album with punk influences and vocals that range from screamy to pretty. It's a good album, don't get me wrong...There just didn't seem to be much diversity in the songs to set one apart from the other. And I like diversity. For what they are doing and how new the band is, I think they are heading in the right direction. Fans of Blood Brothers and Fairweather should check Gatsbys American Dream out.
Overall, professionally sounding album for it being a sophomore release, but not really catchy enough to give me reason to continually keep this cd in our cd player. However, there is definitely potential with this band and I'm interested to see where they go next.
C+
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