Maybe June should be renamed Taking Back Spitalfield – after all, this foursome sound like the perfect amalgamation of two other Victory signees. Whether that’s a bad thing or not I’ll leave up to you to decide. June do their thing pretty well – maybe not as well as their recent EP suggested – but it’s more of the same generic stuff that’s tenapenny at the moment. Sure, it’s catchy, fun and perfectly harmless, but it sounds too similar to too many other bands. And while I’m perfectly happy to listen to bands of this ilk that have a lot of catchy songs (such as TBS and Spitalfield), a couple of tracks on this record really let the side down.
Coming from the same Chicago stable as bands like theAudition and Fallout Boy, vocally there are similarities to both. That means you can expect plenty of singalong hooks and easy-on-the-ear melodies, and in that sense plenty of ‘If You Speak Any Faster’ hits the spot. Songs like ‘OK Corral’ (re-recorded from the EP) and ‘Elevators and Matchmakers’ have plenty of dual vocals and more harmonies than some over-produced pop record. On the whole, it’s a decent stab at a debut CD. But for every two good songs, there’s a poor, forgettable track. ‘My Side Of The Story’ is snooze worthy, while a lot of the tracks just sound very familiar – there are intros that sound like Funeral For A Friend, parts that sound like Name Taken and others that come across like Fallout Boy.
Add the sum of those parts and you’re guaranteed a best seller, but it doesn’t automatically make this an amazing album. Fans of TBS etc will adore songs like ‘Scandals and Scoundrels’ and I expect June will go on and do very well. I do like this album, don’t get me wrong, but it’s too similar to a lot of bands I’ve already heard and for that reason can’t realy score much higher than a 3…
www.junerock.com
Victory
Paul