Style: alt rock, hard rock, indie rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Home: Brooklyn, New York
Members: Joshua Hawksley ~ vocals
Frank Grullon, Peter Strzelecki ~ guitar
Chris Moss ~ bass
Ian Pierce ~ drums
Power pop used to refer to Top 40 easy listening with lots of ballads & no guts ... think Phil Collins or Simply Red ... but in the last decade its taken an oversized page out of the hard rock book, realizing that you can rock as hard as anyone but still craft melodic songs that appeal to a wider audience then guitar freaks & teenage headbangers ... like having girls as fans ... who, I believe, would gravitate to more hard rock if it was a little more tender & not so masochistic. Further, a band can sing a ballad without having to delve into the overly cliched melodramatic acoustic power ballad territory. While, hard rock doesn't have to ignore vocal & arrangement dynamics. The AI is one of the newer bands charting this hybrid direction tapping into power pop, the moodiness of Coldplay & the glam rock of fellow Fixer, the seediness of neighborhood bars but the cleanness of mainstream radio hits, with heavy guitars & dueling vocals finding a completely infectious outcome in the process. One of the most prominent features of AI is, as described on their press release, their "hooky harmonized vocals" which rotate between singing, shouting & vocalizations with dynamic overlapping backing vocals. The vocals are unpredictable & give a welcome added dimension to the music, actually make that a couple added dimensions that really set AI apart.
To Whom It May Concern is AI's second album, having already released a self-produced full length ... aptly named
Voices Of A Generation that belays into my description of their chosen musical path. Like every good EP this new album is a tight little affair of in your face songs that make you want to jump up & down & just party your face off ... really ... this is one of those albums that makes you want to see the band live. & like every good EP it's nearly impossible to chose a favorite song ... which I say having listened to the album at least a dozen times over a couple days. Which brings up another point ... I'm still getting excited about the music rotations later. That's not always a given, either. AI has a lot of potential to really find a large fan base with their music. I sincerely hope they do. The band would eventually changed members & sound a be known as She Said Fire
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