ARTIST: An Epic At Best
TITLE: There Will Be Rain
LABEL: Two Sheds Music
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 215kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 45m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-01-30
RIP DATE: 2006-05-15
Track List
----------
1. This Town 2:28
2. Carolina 5:45
3. Weight of Words 3:30
4. Don't Rush Home 4:47
5. The Color Of My Lungs 4:38
6. Cold Weather Romance 6:13
7. The Day Stephen Finally Set 5:31
Himself on Fire for Katie
8. Birds 2:44
9. Doethe Hands 10:00
Release Notes:
http://www.anepicatbest.com/
http://www.twoshedsmusic.com/
An Epic at Best plays music that traffics in the frustration, pain, and
intermittent moments of joy that come with growing up. They may be older and
wiser now, but they haven't forgotten. The Athens-based band's piano-driven pop
songs, which draw as much from the melancholy musings of Will Oldham as they do
from the honest power of Braid, can come off as disarmingly specific pictures of
a place and time, but the stories they tell could just as easily be yours. Lazy
writers often say that a band "plays from the heart;" An Epic at Best gives that
phrase new meaning. They play their sad, uncertain songs with an exuberance that
renders them more human.
There Will Be Rain is the band's impressive debut record, recorded by Eric Friar
at Downtown Athens Recording Company. Singer Robert Gunn's piano is at the heart
of the record, providing the songs with an anchor, while bassist Natalie Roberts
and guitarist Criswell Collier (since replaced by Athens scene veteran Roy
Coughlin) add stabs of melodic color to the proceedings. James McGaw seals the
deal with drums that make the fast parts bounce and the slow parts swoon. On
"Weight of Words," a propulsive chorus gives way mid-song to a time-stopping,
perfect bridge; by the time the band pulls things back into the song, you will
be singing along, fist in the air. Contrast that with "Cold Weather Romance," a
slow, seasick ballad that could easily soundtrack an aimless night drive through
your hometown, looking unsuccessfully for a street you've never been down
before.
Let An Epic at Best remind you of all those times when the world seemed bleak,
when your life seemed like a doomed tale writ large for the screen, and let them
remind you that everything's fine now so let's laugh and rock about it.