Posted on: April 20, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Using the traditional falsetto voice along with the very technical guitar lines and drum beats, Blue Shade Witness plays the lost-love card with a very sharp sound. Aside from the incredibly short run time of this disc, clocking in at under twenty-eight minutes, the thing that really hurts the credibility of Blue Shade Witness is this completely polished sound of each track, which might have sounded more sincere if a more lo-fi approach was used.

Trailing off into the surf-esque guitars of “Not Fail”, the lush sound of Blue Shade Witness’s guitars dwarfs the extremely emotive voice of Joel. While the sound of Blue Shade Witness does tend to start sounding like many other indie bands, one simple fact does remain constant through this EP : each and every track is written for the individual listener to draw personal experience from the lyrics, and in such a way that every listener, whether fan, casual listener, or even reviewer, will be able to sing along by the third or fourth time listening. Despite moving back to a psuedo-80s ballad guitar line, “The Way It’s Meant to Be” still harnesses the post-pop punk stylings of bands like Boxcar Racer and the mid-1990s sound of The Rembrandts and Collective Soul into a CD that is at is worst spots addictive. Perfect music for playing at your next end-of-summer party, where hearts are still echoing.

Blue Shade Witness – Self/Titled /Double Zero Records / 2003 / 6 Tracks + Video / http://www.blueshadewitness.com / http://www.doublezerorecords.com

Top Track : “Escape Tonight”

Rating : 5.8/10

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