Nathan Asher and The Infantry
Ladies and Gentlemen, boy and girls, I start this review by apologizing for the dearth of reviews I've written in the past six months and to state, because of this my reviewing skills may have atrophied. And in a way, to provide in excuse, in advance, for the possible unusefulness of the information I am about to pass on. I have spent the better part of the last 3 weeks working on three essays and a presentation.
Nathan Asher and the Infantry are a band that, at first seemed to follow in the footsteps of Bob Dylan. In fact, halfway through the first track I said, "Wow, this is Dylan-esque". (Exact quote). To which my friend Anne-Marie said, "Oh, just wait... it gets more so." The good news is, unleike the revered folk singer, Nathan Asher is easy to understand.
The tunes were mellow, more or less being written in the same time signature, contributing to the overall folkiness of the tracks. I'll be honest and say that during tracks 3 and 4 I was attempting to read an article* so I zoned out enough that when I read the tracklist I remembered hearing a tune that repeated the lyrics "sex without love", but I can't tell you much else about it.
When track five came around, I was compelled to put down what I was reading. "You cannot quit smoking" with its plodding, lyrical trudge through a list of reasons why you can not quit smoking caught my attention with its melacholy lyrics juxtaposed with the almost uptempo feel of the tune. It reminded me a little of Bright Eyes from the Fevers and Mirrors days.
Tracks 6&7 features a lot more piano than the previous tracks (at least in my academia addled recollection). They also had more of a pop feel than what had come before. "No More Colleges" (track 8) featured raw vocals (lke you'd expect from anyone I just compared to Bright Eyes) and impressive piano and guitar solos.
All in all Nathan Asher and the Infantry was an enjoyable listen, providing the easy digestibility of pop with the rawness and a selection of topics of folk and indie rock. I say give Nathan Asher and The Infantry a listen. Yes.
More can be found on Nathan Asher and the Infantry at their website and their Myspace.
