Alli With An I come from Raleigh, North Carolina and play a brand of pop-punk which owes as much to Brand New as it does to The Starting Line, with vocals coming from all over the shop to create a really cool three dimensional effect. It’s just disappointing that the majority of songs on this 8-tracker don’t live up to this immediate attraction.
‘Long Story Short’ was actually recorded in February 2001 and released later that year, but Forsaken Recordings liked what they heard and decided to re-release the EP in March 2003. So you could forgive Alli for sounding like some of our contemporary ‘super bands’ that I’ve already compared them to. Having clocked up in excess of 150 shows in a little under 3 years, Alli With An I have certainly earned any minor success having supported the likes of Saves The Day, Taking Back Sunday, Alkaline Trio and Rufio to name but a few. But the eight songs on this recording don’t really warrant those good supporting slots. The first two or three tracks are probably the best and things go slightly downhill from there. In truth they do all sound a bit the same and it is too long at eight songs for an EP. I have a short attention span and if it doesn’t hit me I lose interest. At half an hour of repetitive pop-punk, I’m debating whether to press stop once and for all.
Vocally Matt Sileno and Tom Sowders trade blows in a style that Brand New have now patented, but musically things are a little too weak throughout – there’s a lack of punch and power which really costs them dear in my opinion. ‘Mixed Emotions’ and ‘3-words’ are good songs but then there are average moments such as the pop-punk-by-numbers of ‘Eye Level’, which is all fast drums and power chords. Seen it, done it and got many a t-shirt thanks very much. ‘This Summer’ turns things down a notch as the Taking Back Sunday influence probably comes into play, but the bite and power from the guitars is missing. It’s possibly a production problem and while I’m not advocating a more polished effort it does leave things sounding a little flat. You could say the same about ‘Let You Down’ too, a track which takes too long to get going and then when it does, the burst of excitement which appears to build up just never arrives.
This record is two years old now so you would hope that the band have matured and moved on as writers and musicians. It’s not a particularly bad record, but there is a hell of a lot better out there. There’s no reason to get this ahead of one of our homegrown bands here in the UK. Give it a listen by all means, but it’s nothing to get excited about.
www.alliwithani.com
Paul