Album Review :
Yours for Mine - Dear Children
By Michael Mayer III in Reviews | Comments closed
Artist: Yours for Mine
Album: Dear Children
Label: Blood & Ink
Release Date: January 13, 2009
Review by: Michael Mayer III
Tracklisting:
- We Need You Here
- Absence in Elegance
- My Tomorrow
- The Angry End
- Native Tongue
- What Happened to Us?
- Bling Crosby
- Dear Children
- Call Me Distant
- The Instrumental
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what type of music Yours for Mine has crafted in their debut release, Dear Children. Is it post-hardcore? Not really, though there are elements like intense screaming and heavy drumming. Is it experimental? I suppose you could say that since I’ve never heard an album where there will be growling one minute and then the next a beautiful saxaphone line kicks in and makes you double-check to see if you are still listening to the same album or even the same band. A saxa-ma-phone!!! How cool is that? So, is it progressive? It has it’s moments since most songs change a few times before the end, but that’s such a vague term I don’t think anyone knows what it really means. So what is it? I don’t know and as the album played through my humongous headphones (that I get made fun of for like I’m in the stone age) I realized I didn’t care either. It just works.
The growls and screams are good and varied enough to keep from getting boring. The singing vocals are what really stands out though. The beginning of ‘The Angry End’ is the best example of this. The opening guitars create an atmosphere in the first 45 seconds and then the vocal harmonies kick in very reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Then the horns come in and the smooth, passionate vocals build up to the addictive chorus.
Plus, there’s the added bonus of the spiritual lyrics that don’t preach to you but are still open and clear on where they come from. That’s another refreshing part since a lot of bands who play heavier music seem to be afraid to let their faith show. Not these guys, no sir. And even though they have a few more different sounds and instruments going on than the normal band, the songs don’t sound disjointed or unfocused in the least. Considering this is a debut album, that’s an accomplishment in itself and proves to me that these guys know how to craft music while having fun.
Overall: For what it’s worth, Yours for Mine have done something different to change up what’s becoming a tired genre. Not enough bands toying with the post-hardcore sound stand out from their peers and sometimes a breath of fresh air is needed. From the moment that beautiful saxaphone plays in ‘Absence in Elegance’ you get that whiff of fresh air and you’re hooked. Luckily enough, the rest of the album holds up strong and you may not be able to resist spinning it again as soon as it stops.
Gems of this album are: ‘Absence in Elegance’, ‘The Angry End’, ‘Native Tongue’, ‘Call Me Distant’
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