Chip Greene’s album is an interesting experience. It is full of a variety of feelings and textures. Familiar feeling slow to mid-tempo rock grooves drive almost every song on the album, yet somehow everything still feels fresh.
While the tempos don’t seem to vary too much, the instrumentation certainly does. Tones and sounds vary dramatically from song to song. Different effects keep the core sounds (male vocals, guitars, drums, bass) interesting. There are also many alternative sounds that pop up throughout the album which add quite a bit. Sometimes, it is unclear as to what the sounds are, but mostly they are strong and organic sounding. Importantly though, the center of focus throughout the album is kept by a good strong lead vocal. The voice is very pure toned, but it sounds mature and fits the music perfectly.
I think that if you had to categorize this album, it could be said to be alternative pop rock. But, it is much more layered and intricate than what most people would think of when someone says “alternative rock.”
One thing that I noticed that may be an annoyance to some people is that on a few songs, the lead vocal seems to go into unnaturally pure tones. This is a strong indication that autotune (a program which tunes the vocals) was probably used throughout the album. I have been on somewhat of an anti-autotune kick lately, so this is particularly annoying to me. Other than that, the songs are well written, with my largest other annoyance being that this album is a little bit sappy (pop music) and girly. This is not really a bad thing, though, depending on the listener’s mood.
Overall, this album is pretty well done. The recording is better than average (even for Nashville engineers), and the music is well written. I could see this album having success among people who are not looking for anything exceptionally progressive, but want a bit of a twist on something that feels familiar within a pop/alternative rock framework. However, I don’t really hear any specific song that will serve as an eye opener or radio success. Therefore, with little to excite the masses, I think this album will see very average reception (dependent on promotion techniques).
