A Week In July
Near Fatal Explosion
Orange Peal
The press release accompanying A Week In July’s debut CD describes this as, “aggressive power pop incorporating indie rock and a touch of hardcore.” That’s a lot of words for what might as well be termed, “generic emo.” But what can you do?
The Pittsburgh quintet is obviously a talented and pretty tight bunch, so that’s not the problem with this one. And we’ll even be so kind as to look past the crappy production, courtesy of the band itself. No, the problem is the songs. The songwriting relies far too heavily on what other bands in a similar vein have done before, rarely, if ever, leaving room for things that already haven’t been done to death.
Songs like “Maryanne” and “Collide” stand out in that they seem as inspired by the punky new wave of Dexy’s Midnight Runners as by Dashboard Confessional or Thursday. That’s a direction they might want to explore in the future. The rest of this, however, is not much more than a reprise of things that other bands have done before them, with far more success and excitement.
Orange Peal: http://www.orangepeal.com/
