After Edmund - Hello

Release Date: February 26, 2008
Tracks: 12
Length: 43 minutes

Audio CD
1. Thank God
2. Fighting For Your Heart (Let It Go)
3. Everyone
4. Like A Dream
5. Darkest Room
6. Come And Rain Down
7. Tears
8. Stealing Away
9. Go Oboe!
10. Clouds
11. It's Alright
12. To See You Leave

Without much hype, After Edmund blasts onto the rock music scene with Hello, the debut that will feel more like a roller coaster than a musical album. Let me explain why.

This Georgia-based rocker quintet knows exactly how to arrange an album. "Thank God" meshes syths with the large concert-hall feel of the song to create a booming open for any album. Granted, it isn't melodically gripping, but the song becomes more accessible with every listen, a great choice to start off the album so that each consequent listen is more enjoyable. The next track "Fighting for Your Heart (Let It Go)" has the longest title among the tracks, and the buildup to the chorus is a reflection of that as well. It seems to take its time reaching the lovely chorus; this, I imagine, is the upward inching of a roller coaster before it reaches its maximum.

If we skip the first misstep on the album, "Everyone," we would have the coaster's first thrilling drop, the radio single "Like a Dream." While "Everyone" is highly disposable (the keys player Yates said it had "the simplest chord structure on the record" and I agree) and I forgot about it while it was playing in the background, I felt that "Like a Dream" was the first genuinely non-disposable song of Hello. It makes for a good first single choice, melodically challenging and presenting a tune that listeners find familiar yet fresh.

The next five songs form a second buildup, this time to the pinnacle of this joyride of an album. "Darkest Room" is a creative introduction to "Come and Rain Down" that is highly effective; I closed my eyes and could understand the naming of the interlude. "Come and Rain Down," although sounding like a weak MercyMe single with the repetition and drawn-out ending, was spiced up with guitars and presents fitting chords - minor chords during the phrases "darkest room" and "night turns cold," major chords during "Jesus... understands." Okay, so I take it back; it's far from MercyMe. "Tears" is filler material, but at least interesting filler material with a chorus of singers during the, well, chorus. I could see it working nicely as a crowd pleaser in concert. "Stealing Away," if presented with a different piano riff, would work well as a OneRepublic song; even if it's not as "epic" as the band makes it out to be, it's one of my favorites on the album.

One look at the title of "Go Oboe" and I was expecting a rock song infused with oboes, which would have been nice, but what I heard was even better - a classical instrumental piece that displayed true talent, diversity, and the ability to do much more than the average rock band. Now, "Clouds." It's the moment that we've been waiting for. The previous track melts into this gem that the album's title Hello is derived from: "not that far from me... hello, hello. I'm not alone." These are great lyrics that deserve the title of the album. Catchy, relevant, and satisfying, there is no doubt that "Clouds" ups the notch for the band's future endeavors.

Unfortunately, it's followed by "It's Alright," arguably the weakest song on the album. Musically, it's nothing special, and lyrically it carries the same message as "Clouds." It definitely should not follow with the strongest song on the album. Finally, "To See You Leave": a good ending to a solid album. Ambient and slower-paced, it certainly gives it a sense of closure.

And "closure" is as good of a word as any to describe Hello in a single word. It's the true feeling of satisfaction after a heart-gripping debut album. With Hello on shelves, other rockers need beware because After Edmund isn't saying goodbye anytime soon.

- Clem

Courtesy of IndsideREVOLUTION.Net