Fingertight
In The Name of Progress
Columbia
Upon initially receiving this package, I was very excited. The cover art features a red, blocky character with smooth metallic appendages that from a distance resembles the Kool-Aid Man. Of course, I thought, if Fingertight has enough taste to devote precious sleeve space to such a powerful agent of pre-pubescent commercialism, there must be something to these guys.
After a couple listens, I must say, I’m a bit disappointed. Fingertight has plenty of talent, and is damn good at mimicking the sound of other bands, but this album seems to lack consistency and any concrete direction. On “Bellevue” and “Speak in Tongues,” they do a superb Incubus impersonation that sounds more like early Incubus than Incubus themselves do these days. “Guilt” sounds like Linkin Park, and “Nathaniel” brings Finger Eleven to mind. “Surface” sounds like Slipknot. Yes, Slipknot.
It’s just a really strange mix, especially when you toss in a piano-backed number like “Magical,” which happens to be the best (and without a doubt the most original) track on the entire album.
In The Name Of Progress demonstrates that Fingertight are an extremely versatile band, capable of going in many different directions with whatever they choose to do in the future. The problem that stands in front of these guys is choosing who or what they really want to be, and then finding some new producers that will allow them to grow out of the clichéd echoes of a faltering scene and define their own sound.
Some corporate sponsorship and Saturday morning ad spots might not hurt either. Kool-Aid, anyone?
Fingertight: http://www.fingertight.net/
