Album: Other Lives – Tamer Animals

Released May 2011, TBD Records.

I had never heard of Other Lives until I randomly stumbled upon this video; when I saw it, I didn’t automatically love them, but I thought the band had good potential. Unfortunately, Tamer Animals didn’t really capture me as I had thought, although it was not a total disappointment either.

As I began listening to it for the first time I enjoyed it a lot, especially when I heard the opening track “Dark Horse”. They are clearly influenced by Fleet Foxes but manage to maintain an original sound. But there was something that kept me from loving this thing, and it took me a while to determine what that was. As the album progressed, my initial joy started going downhill. The tracks became less and less exciting, as if they had chosen the best three or four tracks and put them at the beginning of the album. I also had a strong feeling that they were trying way to hard, trying to be the next big thing, the production feels slightly forced and unnatural. When I finished listening to the whole thing I was pretty disappointed. But still, I’m sure some of it’s tracks will remain in my playlists for a long while. The songs themselves are not too bad, but I think that if Other Lives had recorded in a more modest way, this would have been way better.

Listen: Other Lives – Dark Horse