Band: About A Mile
Title: Find Yourself
Label: N/A
Release Date: July 29, 2009
Review By: Scott L
Tracklisting:
- Again
- Send Me An Angel
- Innocence
- Promise Me
- Find Yourself
- My Mistake
- Not Ashamed
- From Me
- Don’t Close Your Eyes
- Prodigal
- Not Alone
- Tomorrow
- Troy
- Change
What’s in a name? Sometimes nothing. Sometimes quite a bit. About A Mile’s liner notes lay out in no uncertain terms just where the name comes from… and just where the band is coming from. “Jesus carried His cross about a mile. How far will you carry yours?” Food for thought… so don’t forget to pack your steak knife for this trip.
About A Mile is a 3-piece out of Butler, Pennsylvania. Made up of three brothers, these guys play a subdued brand of modern rock. Think Trapt meets Augustana with a side order of Papercut Massacre. If that’s too hard to wrap your brain around… then just think of them as a slightly harder version of Building 429.
There’s a lot to like with About A Mile’s full-length release “Find Yourself”. The only issue I have is that what I like was intermittent. While the potential is obvious, I think that with a bit more experience they could really turn some heads. But consistency is gonna be the key. They’ve got the talent, it just needs some refining. Case in point… consider the middle stretch of songs. The title track is a song that starts off with a bang, but evaporates as soon as the chorus starts. Downer. But the following song, “My Mistake” is dead on from start to finish. Next up is “Not Ashamed” which is a decent song with a great message about taking a stand for God. But the comes “From Me” which, in spite of a seriously funky bass vibe just falls flat before “Don’t Close Your Eyes” grabs your attention again with a vengeance. Anyway, my point is that this CD inspires both the volume up button as well as the skip button.
Typically, I’d drop this into the lap of the producer, but since there are no real production credits I have to assume that the band carried this through from start to finish by themselves. So while they get the credit for the good… they also take the rap for the not so good. And maybe that’s part of the problem, because the impartial ears of someone outside of the creative team could have helped to pare this album down a bit and given it a more balanced feel. Now I’d be the last guy to complain about a CD with 14 tracks and a run time of a solid hour, but if you’re gonna go long you gotta stay steady because there’s a whole lot more room for the listener to lose interest. This CD could have been chopped down to 10 or 11 tracks easily. Call it addition by subtraction.
Lyrically, About A Mile really shines. It’s obvious that a lot of time and prayer went into the messages they present. Dealing with themes like rejection, loneliness, and failure as well as hope, salvation, and God’s ability to work and change a life… the messages are relevant and timely. Consider the opening track “Again”, which says, “I swear that you can make it / on the trails that you’ve been taking / and I swear it’s true / I will always love you / life can get so complicated / in this mess you have created / I’ll be there for you / I’ll be right there waiting”. Or how about “Not Ashamed”, which says, “I stand alone before you in this place / I want everyone to know I’m not ashamed / that you’re the air that I’ve been breathing / the only truth that I believe in / and I can’t live without you anymore / I don’t wanna hide the fact that I need you / I wanna be held in your arms / let the whole world see / that I believe in Jesus / and I’m not ashamed”. Behold… the “J” word. How sweet is that? I’m sorry, the answer was very sweet.
The CD booklet and liner notes are all top notch and look very professional. All the lyrics are included and if you like lot’s of band photos you’ll be pleased. And, hey, speaking of photos… this CD comes with free tickets to the Klute Brothers Gun Show. These guys should be endorsed by Muscle Milk or at least speak with Austrian accents.
The standout track was a toss up between “My Mistake” and “Don’t Close Your Eyes”. Both are killer songs but for entirely different reasons. I’ll leave the final decision to you.
Overall: These three brothers have put together a decent CD with some heartfelt messages that both convict and encourage. It’s not without it’s weaknesses, but it’s definitely more hit than miss… so if you’re at all into Building 429 type of rock, do yourself a favor and check these guys out.
www.myspace.com/aboutamileband