Band: The Corners
Album: Born At Last
Label: Unsigned
Release: 3/5/13
Reviewer: Brody B
Buy: [Bandcamp]
Tracklisting
- Waking Up
- New Day
- Eden
- Ballad of a Young Man
- Bread and Wine
- All Things New
- All of Me
- Wolves
- Home
- Born At Last
I have always loved a good surprise. Even as a kid, I would never try to find out what I had gotten for Christmas (although my parent’s hiding places were extremely obvious) simply because I knew the surprise was often times just as exciting as what I received.
This is the case with Hannibal, Missouri’s young group, The Corners. You see, I have become somewhat jaded over the last couple years and often turned the cold shoulder to new bands for fear of being let down by more of the same old generic sounds. When I began reading the bio on the band I thought I’d be getting myself into just another contemporary rock band, but on first spin I found myself letting my guard down.
You see, The Corners have an eclectic blend of sounds that, while not all original, meld together to make a beautiful smorgasbord. From the opening bluesy swagger of Waking Up to the stripped down acoustics of Bread and Wine to the almost CCM sounding All of Me, “Born At Last” is quite a journey from beginning to end.
New Day was the first track to really jump out at me. Right after the pulsing opening bass line, my Thrice senses kicked into full gear, dissecting all the intricate layers of the song. The swirling guitars mix with growling bass lines and fill riddled drums; all of which come to a perfect consonance during the chorus as vocalist Andy Rhea’s voice hits Dustin Kensrue esque heights.
Ballad of a Young Man is a track that caught me off guard. It begins with guitar that almost brings to mind the waltz, while it continually builds up until gang chanting backs Rhea crooning, “It’s a miracle that You would see beyond the sin in me / It’s a miracle that You would hear this young man’s prayer!”.
All Things New and All of Me are two tracks that both fall into the same vein of being straightforward praise songs that would not be out of place on any mainstream CCM radio station. The former, All Things New, features some of the most intriguing lyrics on the record as Rhea proclaims, “Angel wings, the breeze it brings/The trumpet sounds open the ground/The fiery waves upon the beach/They make their way to you and me/They burn, they clean/Transformed we sing/We sing Hallelujah!”
The only really issue I found with it was that the pacing seemed a bit peculiar. As opposed to mixing the more upbeat and slower songs together, it felt like they were sectioned off in chunks. This caused songs that stood well on their own to feel a bit bogged down and boring. For instance, Bread and Wine is a great stripped down song, but coming off the heels of two other slower tracks (Eden and Ballad of a Young Man) causes it to feel slightly dull.
Overall: I believe “Born At Last” truly has something for everyone. Despite some pacing issues, the record is enjoyable from front to back and is sure to stay in my rotation this year.
RIYL: Thrice, Abandon Kansas, Needtobreathe