Brandtson-Hello Control

Brandtson-Hello Control
Record Label: The Militia Group
Year: 2006
Track Listing:
01. A Thousand Years
02. Nobody Dances Anymore
03. Earthquakes and Sharks
04. Denim Iniquity
05. Here We Go
06. Tapping The Vain
07. Cold War
08. Parallels
09. Stop Machine
10. Friend of Faux
11. Lie To Me
12. Goodnight Sweet Prince
13. The Secret

I have to confess I’m a new fan of Brandtson, and was drawn to them through their song 'Earthquakes and Sharks'. I loved the catchy lyrics, and had hoped that they were something different. You know what I mean. A band, that played to their own tune, rather than the overdone Emo beat.

Wow. Where even to begin? I was more than just a little surprised at the striking difference in all their other songs compared to ‘Earthquakes and Sharks’.

While the song is upbeat and pop, the rest of the album strikes me as not.I’m still not sure what to make of this album as it seems to go in all directions, and not completely together.

On one hand there are songs such as 'Stop Machine', which have an Electronica feel to it, 'Earthquakes and Sharks', which is pure pop, and then 'A Thousand Years', which has a droll Emo feel to it.

After hearing this album, I went out and purchased their earlier stuff, and the difference compared to

Hello, Control is striking. Fans of this band and their earlier stuff may just been scratching their heads in wonder. The no-frills, classic Indie sound has been replaced with the latest Indie/Dance Craze.

That’s not saying that this isn’t a good album. I think if they are concentrated on one theme instead of mashing everything together on one album, then it would have been easier to swallow the band’s change from their classic sound to their newer one.

The truth is, after a few listens this album does grow on you. Die-hard fans are either going to love this new style or hate it, and new listeners should not use hello, control as a sounding board to become a fan. Instead listen to their earlier stuff before reserving judgement. It’s a good album. Not a great album, but still a good one.
It’d be a much better album if they hadn’t been striving to please everyone.

I give it 3/5

Buy Hello, control

Brandtson's official site

Brandtson on myspace