Posted on: July 12, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 1

Slide Show Baby – S/T / 2007 Moraiath / 11 Tracks / http://www.slideshowbaby.com /

“Long Long Road” is a track that starts with splashy drums. That’s a good thing. However, it sounds like the violin that is present during points of this track is created in Cakewalk and pandered as real. While I have no problem with how they have created the lines (real or through a program), it just has a feel that is not completely convincing. This is what happened at points during the Bloody Irish Boys album, but Slide Show Baby’s violin sounds even less realistic than did the BIB’s.

The band themselves play a style of emo-rock that is a blend of Blink 182 and JFT, while including just a minor hint of a more Irish type of sound. The tracks will bounce around in listeners’ heads in much of the same way as the Plain White T’s have been doing in the last few months. Where it seemed a little too perfect, the violin during “Newsflash” is better socialized into the track. This means that the band is able to include that instrument into a wall of sound, while the insistent vocals use the same somewhat snotty sound as Yellowcard to get their foot in the door. This track is more of a “journeyman” track, in that it represents a song that is solid but does not shine as brightly as is needed for the band to chalk this up as a single.

I’d eat my hat if Slide Show Baby was not influenced by the Starting Line single “The Best of Me” during the opening riffs to “Shine”. Slide Show Baby is able to come up with a nice, light emo-rock sound for the entirety of their self titled debut album. However, there is not a track that will get them into the public eye. What I can see the band doing in the next few years is getting a song charted on the low 100s on the Billboard, possibly getting some easy listening / modern rock play, and maybe even making it onto a Disney soundtrack or a Scooby Doo movie. This is their debut album, as was mentioned, so I can see the band going farther with future releases. However, aside from their hooky sound, I don’t hear much of a reason to pick up this album. Give the band a listen in the next few years; I feel that they will become more impressive with more experience. 

Top Tracks: Shine, Long Long Road

Rating: 4.2/10

1 people reacted on this

  1. Just to let you know every string sound on that record was real. Played by Victor Gagnon, and don’t call it a violin…It’s a fiddle!

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