Showing posts with label All the Day Holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All the Day Holiday. Show all posts
THE SKINNY: With an incredible live performance for a room of a handful of people, All the Day Holiday has forced me to add them to my favorite bands section on Facebook, of which just three bands reside.MYSPACE: http://myspace.com/allthedayholiday
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/atdh
PURCHASE: Amazon MP3, iTunes
All the Day Holiday, an ambient, indie pop/rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, performed at North Star Bar in Philadelphia, Pa. last weekend to a crowd of maybe 12. Among the sparse audience was at least two photographers, friends of the band, the sound engineer, myself, a friend, and only a handful of fans. The stage was close and the sound was loud. Vocalist Daniel Simmons' was absolutely beaming as guitarist Nathan Frisch began their opening song "La Voyage," before the band exploded into full spectrum sound, and bobbed around the stage.
I was immediately stunnded as Simmons' airy vocal tone sat perfectly into the mix. Whatever intensity the producer managed to capture on the band's debut LP The Things We've Grown to Love, is just a glimmer in comparison to the driving vocal performance Simmons offers live. Each note was perfect and captivating, while the excessively high notes were pleasantly strained into an awesome sort of yell. Supporting this pitch and melodic tonality with rhythm was Mark Ventura, boasting a mullet, a myriad of captivating beats, and an awesome silver drumset with just a floor tom for extremities. His ability to focus on the groove and supply a (clearly trained) pulse is unparalleled in the scene today. Like the other members of ATDH, Ventura is no hack. He knows his craft and is huge reason why the band is so successful.
Frisch spent the entirety of the short-lived show on the highest registers of the fretboard, displaying his prowess not for visual effect but to achieve a distinct and truly awesome tone. Delay is a major component to the guitar sound, for both guitarists, and though its used literally constantly, it's never to excess. Because of this very ambient guitar styling, bass was a forefront on the stage and bassist David Roller did it right. Along with his signature body bobbing came a really delicious fuzz and a fat, deep undertone that sat really well with Ventura's kick drum. The band was tight and spent every minute of the show hitting luscious chords above a rhythm section that puts others in the genre to shame.
The photographers, and handful of heavily dressed and bearded fellas in front of the stage stood in awe while the band blew us all away. Some of them mouthed words and all of us held our fingers around our arms because it was freezing. There was a feeling of art is being made here while photos were shot from underneath Ventura's snare, revealing his sweating face; the band's friends mouthed every word and the sound guy tweaked knobs making for the perfect mix and I looked around and still - there were less than a dozen of us. All the Day Holiday, a still expanding and evolving band, put on a show for 10 of us as if we were 1,000. This humble attitude and appreciation for the life they live came through clearly and breathed a breath of fresh air into the stagnant, drafty bar. ATDH put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen.
THE SKINNY: Who knew a band with such a common style and consistency could release an album that's not only intriguing, but easy to listen to and get lost in. All the Day Holiday release to the masses The Things We've Grown to Love today, to much avail. What I assumed would be another Copeland look-alike is proving, with every listen, that their love for music and ability and enthusiasm for performance is more than skin deep.MYSPACE: http://myspace.com/allthedayholiday
PURCHASE: Official Store
The Things We've Grown to Love kicks off with a slower, very melodic track entitled "Autumn" that disperses quickly with its false start and jumps into the now accustomed and noticeable ATDH groove that I've already grown to love. Drummer Mark Ventura is the catalyst for the song's success. This, in conjunction w/ Daniel Simmon's Vocals, makes for an exciting, head-bobbing good time.
The guitar work on The Things... supplies ambience that sits beautifully in contrast with both the drumming and vocals, which are noticeably more aggressive than the guitars throughout the album. For me, it's this dynamic that makes the CD so enriching. Simmon's melodies aren't entirely unique by comparison to others in the market - though I do prefer his voice and nuance to the competition - but the combination of driving drums to passive guitars beneath an emotional array of lyrics and melodies is enough to make my heart melt.
Ironically, my least favorite part about The Things We've Grown To Love is track 8: "The Things We've Grown To Love" - a bit of a contradiction to my previous sentiments. I think the band steps too far out of that pretty, ambient effect on this track. Simmon's melody here is short and choppy in the verse, and slightly generic thereafter. Aside from that, my only complaint is that the album's audio may not live up to their live performance. After a long binge of ATDH Youtube videos (before I'd even owned their album), I became accustomed to their sound and style. Perhaps the mix on the record hides their energy to some extent. I saw a large difference between the album's "Atmosphere" (track 6) and their live rendition of it. At any rate, ATDH have one album under their belt, so there's no reason to get picky about production.
After what little disappointment "The Things We've Grown To Love" (the song) left me with, All the Day bring the rest of the album all the way home. "Flowers and Fireworks" is magnificently beautiful, with almost a Coldplay vibe going on with the piano and chord progression they use. The song is a slow progression that builds toward an epic finale, where each member shines and proves their role of importance in the group. As this is without a doubt the emotional climax of the record, the remaining three tracks allow for more of the same good groove and vocalizing while strutting even more dimensions of their ability to write different and approachable songs. A strong end and a strong finish leave me with only one honest feeling: All the Day Holiday's The Things We've Grown to Love is a big winner.
"You take the roots so much deeper, so the trees can grow stronger."
"Flowers and Fireworks" off of
The Things We've Grown to Love
FAVORITE TRACK: "Flowers and Fireworks" / "Atmosphere"
FOR FANS OF: Coldplay, Copeland, Lydia
WEBSITE: http://allthedayholiday.comMYSPACE: http://myspace.com/allthedayholiday
PURCHASE: PreRelease Direct from the Band
I've had very little experience with All the Day Holiday, though I do recall a short listening sesh sometime this past collegiate semester and thinking I liked it, but then just sort of lost that immediate interest due to the generic nature of their style.
The band has a few new tracks up for streaming on the MySpace that genuinely put the old roster of songs to shame. This new set is pretty dark and Copeland-ish and filled with a good bit of head bobbing and self-indulgent, soaring ambiance.
I won't get into details now, but lookout for an Album review of The Things We've Grown to Love sometime after I've acquired it. In the meantime, check out this awesome video below, of them performing a song called "Atmosphere"
courtesy: http://surthezone.com | such a sick vid
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