Album Review: The Falklands - "Think About It"

By Josh "Pinky" Pothier

This record is recorded really well. Everything sounds full bodied and up front, and the mix is really balanced, so you can hear everything that’s being played in a crisp, clear fashion. I’m not convinced that’s a good thing. Actually, I know that for The Falklands, it’s definitely not a good thing.

The Falklands are a pop punk band with some elements of Springsteen-esque rock and roll parts and Clash style vocals. I’ll be honest, I don’t find very much exciting about this album, which is probably why it took me so long to write this review. Every time I turned it on I couldn’t be inspired to write much about it, good or bad.

The Falklands have the ability to string parts together fairly well, but that’s about where I stopped being impressed. The fact that this album is recorded so well brings out things like little drum timing flubs, and vocals that seem strained and all over the place, flat and sharp. If this was recorded a little dirtier, with a little more lo-fi technique and reverb it would bury all those things, and I think you would have a more consistent album.

It’s not that The Falklands are a bad band, but they weren’t ready to sound this good yet. I can’t stop cringing every time the singer holds a note and it falls short, or the guitar clips a weird note. I also find the songs are all a bit crowded, everyone seems so scared they aren’t going to be heard, that there are passing notes, drum fills and vocal flourishes everywhere. You wouldn’t understand a conversation if 5 people were talking at the same time, and the same applies to your music. That kind of stuff muddies the water, and the listener can’t get a clear view of the actual song.

This is a band that really needs to take a step back and hear how they actually sound. So many times bands are so anxious to get material out there that they don’t have a proper assessment of their actual strong/weak points.
For example, these songs are arranged perfectly, and there are melodies that sort of come and go that are really interesting and really strong, but there is always something to draw your ear away from it. Once The Falklands learn to step back a little on every front, their songs will have maturity that I’m sure will endear them to the listener. Until that happens I’m just glad I finally got around to this review, because now I don’t ever have to listen to this fucking album ever again.

http://falklands.bandcamp.com/