Posted on: March 3, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Quiet Life – Act Natural / 2008 Safety Meeting / 11 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/quietlife /

The bluesy rock style that Quiet Life starts off their “Act Natural” with is something that could easily break the band big as soon as the right individuals find the album. It is not only the catchiness of the act that will sell listeners on this album, but their ability to create order in chaos (especially during the chorus on “Trying To Get Home”) and make something utterly beautiful. The vocalist of Quiet Life has the same funkiness, classical style of Chris Robinson (from The Black Crowes). Instead of the rest of the band going that route for their “Act Natural”, Quiet Life goes for a more indie-rock meets blues sound.

This is what will be hot, and if individuals can hear about how good of an album “Act Natural” is, Quiet Life could conceivably have the next “What’s The Story (Morning Glory)”. The band shifts further intot he country sound with “Leah”, which will undoubtedly plase fans of alt-country acts like Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown or of anarchist-folk/punk acts like Lucero and early Against Me!. However, instead of merely following in the footsteps of those acts, Quiet Life (and Sean’s vocals) forge an entirely new path. The energy present during “Leah” belies the slower, more morose sound in which the track first opened. Hell, this blend of styles has not been done this well since “Black Gold”-era Soul Asylum. The band comes forth with the third song on the disc – “Were You Singing” – with yet another interesting blend of styles and influences. Where there is a little bit of a Conor Oberst present in the vocals during “Were YouSinging”, the instrumentation takes on a seemingly-unworkable linkage of The Eagles, The Counting Crows, and Desert City Soundtrack. The band does not need to be fast with every song, they do not need to be ear-rippingly loud with each note – they are able to create a very energetic album with a normal tempo and a lightness to their instrumental compositions.

Even though 2008 has only been going on for about two months, there has been nothing terribly impressive to come out up to that point. The honest, touching compositions of “Act Natural” are the first thing that has me looking up from my piles of older CDs. I have to be honest – out of 3,000 acts reviewed since 1998 – I’ve only been sold on a very few of them. Latterman was one, Desert City Soundtrack another. Quiet Life is the first of 2008, and I sincerely wish the best for them in the future.

Top Tracks: California, Head in the Clouds

Rating: 9.0/10

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