Machine Gun Baby: For the Ones We Knew EP
Review by Sean Cullivan
This is the debut release from Dublin alt. rock band Machine Gun Baby. It’s a five track EP, almost a mini album of sorts and it pretty much follows the dominant sound in alt. rock music since the 2000’s.
The first track, Judgement Day sets the tone. The song really comes out of the blocks and the first blast of guitars really does grab attention. Unfortunately after ten seconds familiarity kicks in and it all starts to sound like a Kings of Leon/Foo Fighters record. I’m not the biggest fan of either of these two groups so I found the rest of the EP to be a bit of a drag.
The next songs broadly follow the same pattern as the first track. There are lots of big, anthemic, stadium-friendly songs with uplifting guitar hooks scattered everywhere. The singer has a very affected style which sounds like a cross between Caleb Followill’s southern yelp and Irish alt. rock godfather Glen Hansard’s slight Dublin twang. Coupled with the huge stadium sound one gets the feeling that this is what a Kings of Leon record would sound like if Caleb Followill started smoking heavily.
To be fair the lyrics on the record are pretty good and are more than functional in purpose. I particularly liked the searching and earnest vibe of the first track and the plaintive feel of the third track On My Way. However, those tracks are as good as it gets and, for instance, the second track (called Track Eight) is ruined with the use of clichéd, cringe worthy Bible references.
Another thing I liked about the record was the good use of studio and guitar effects which gave some much needed depth and texture to the songs. The really faraway guitar sound as On My Way fades out was one of the highlights of the EP.
In fairness, Machine Gun Baby are a young band who are still developing their musical identity so I’m not going to write them off yet. However, they really do need to mix it up a bit more. There are several things they could do: try deviating from the 4/4 time signature and mid rock tempo, try more inventive song structures, use other instruments apart from two guitars, bass and drums (Arcade Fire have an anthemic, stadium-friendly sound but get away with it because of the different textures) because even this five track EP gets boring and repetitive. Fortunately for Machine Gun Baby I can see enough talent there to do just that and in the future produce something that makes me eat my words.