3 out of 5

Label: 54’40 or Fight!

Producer: Micajah Ryan

Boyhood is an incredibly eager release, all gusto and bright energy, which is both its best feature and its downfall.  The recording reeks of shoestring but modern shoestring – wherein we have the gadgets to get some good fidelity but not the patience or skill to know levels, our what’s desired from the mix – so in the opener ‘The Fences,’ for example, the cymbals bleed in and out disconcertingly, rubbing against the organic ebb and flow of the song.  Track two ‘PDA’ buzzes and clicks as though things are being plugged in or un-.  And throughout – the rustic spring of the title track, the arean-filling ‘Appalachia’ – there’s further evidence.  It’s charming in a way, and does give ‘Boyhood’ a personal, humble feel to match the simple cover art and open, wandering themes of family and friends, but by the same token it keeps any track from really being great, coming across more as a test or demo tape.  Which can do the trick if you’re truly bursting at the seams, but though there are like 90 people in the band, it’s not so much that there’s this universal DRIVE behind the music as there is a… hm… commitment, or a wholesomeness.  Hit record and
go, we like singing songs.  You’d accept it if told that this was written over a weekend. And no offense meant if it took years; it’s not a critcism of quality, just the vibe given off by the way the disc shudders and jerks from moment to moment, never quite resting.  Which is a shame because there’s some good compositional stuff going despite the recording hiccups – the clean guitar and thick bass sound great, and it’s nice to this sort of emo / poppy singing / writing style (think Sunny Day at moments, Harvey Danger at others) matched to the drums of one Nathan Wilder, who’s not afraid to play up the rock n’ roll – but once a song builds to a certain point it’s like the group shrugs and doesn’t really know what else to do, so either it’s rinse and repeat (again with opener’Fences’) or just drop the song and move on.

It’s a well-intentioned shiny rock record with some great ideas percolated through, given an indie wash of background conversations, twinkling keys and noise.  If the members settled down and decided to write like an actual group, I have no doubt they could turn out an amazing record.  As it is, this is an ensemble of ‘Almost’ tunes that get close to becoming …something… but never quite make it.