Posted on: August 19, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

June – Make It Blur / 2007 Victory / 12 Tracks / http://www.junerock.com / http://www.victoryrecords.com /

I have known about June for a few years now. They played with some of the bands around the Greencastle area right before or after signing with Victory Records, but I never had the chance to hear or review them before receiving “Make It Blur” in the mail. The disc starts out with “No Time For Sense”, a song that adds together equal parts Incubus with emo music. This style is unique and provides listeners with something that they have not heard before, but it is not a track that June can immediately reach to the stars with.

The slower style of a “Finally” has a better chance at succeeding due to the fact that it has an allure that will reminds individuals of late Blink 182 or pre-Christian Good Charlotte. The first stallar track comes during “Tempter”, which adds a healthy dollop of harmony to the vocals and subjugates the instrumentation to the vocals, resulting in a radio-ready track that does not eschew the styles and influences that make up June.. “Machine and the Line” has an electronic sound to it that will parallel the work of a Rocket Summer or HelloGoodbye considerably.

This track also is notable as it shows June as taking up the style of a Fall Out Boy in regards to the vocal and instrumental arrangements on the track. The song may be subtle at points, but June add speed and enough fuzz to make the track stand on its’ own.It seems as if June has a little bit of a problem coming up with a style that they can ride for the entirety of “Make It Blur”. There are a number of strong tracks on the disc (including “Your Shadow”), but the tracks seem to reflect different styles and influences a little too often to get a full idea of who June is and what they want to do with this album. Another solid track comes in “I’d Lose Myself”, but it brings individuals in through a more soft-rock sound that has no other common referent during the disc. I will definitely have this album in my CD player for a while, but for the next album, June needs to create a more cohesive framework to work off of. If this can happen, I can completely see June take on the mantle of most popular Victory band, even displacing a Hawthorne Heights or Aiden.

Top Tracks: Your Shadow, I’d Lose Myself

Rating: 6.7/10

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