ALT PRESS DOESN’T PLAY FAIR (TO MIDLAND)

Just this past Tuesday I was casually enjoying an unofficial holiday you may have heard of that one of my obsessive friends lovingly calls “Fair to Midland Day.” In celebration of the group’s fourth release, Arrows and Anchors, the guys (and, like, one girl) all set out to purchase the album and listen to it tirelessly.

I made sure I eventually got one too (so I didn’t look like a bad person or anything…), and I was dern glad I did, because despite having already heard about 2/3rds of it in live and demo form, the album still rules. It may not be outright metal, but it is awesomely oddball alt rock.

But why take my word for it? Especially when we have such an accurate and thoughtful portrayal of the record right here, courtesy of Alternative Press:

The fourth album by Texas prog-rockers Fair to Midland is undoubtedly their heaviest, often times to a fault. Over the course of these 15 songs, the quintet’s main focus seems to be radio-rock fare a la Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace (“Heavens To Murgatroyd,” “A Loophole In Limbo”) instead of the progressive, inventive instrumentation that puts them miles beyond anything jocked by local modern-rock DJs. There’s always been a heavier influence in the band’s music, but on Arrows & Anchors, their ambitious desires to step outside the genre box often get bogged down in a sea of down-tuned guitar and maudlin lyrics. Still, when stirring moments like the jazzy “Bright Bulbs & Sharp Tools” (complete with swelling synths and keyboard arpeggios too fun not to act out) and the banjo-backed, head-turning “Amarillo Sleeps On My Pillow” peek through the cock-rock clouds, they almost make the digging needed to get to them worthwhile.

-Evan Lucy, Alt Press

So … yeah, Fair to Midland sound just like Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace (especially on their 40-second church organ intro track), their new album is a cock rock record through and through, the Earth is a star, chicken is a fruit, and caterpillars are just baby lobsters. In case it’s not obvious from my sarcasm I think you’re definitely gonna’ want to get your hands on this maudlin radio-rock fare a.s.a.p!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8CGzMcWMZU

– BS