Label: Self-Released Rating: 3 Guns
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Written By: Alexandra Hoover
If you visit their MySpace page, don’t let Honor By August trick you into thinking they went to the Vans Warped Tour to sample chicken fingers. The band is currently playing at the Warped Tour alongside such musicians as Flogging Molly, one of their favorite bands. (No, they are not opening for Hanson this time!)
If you haven’t heard from them in a while, you may be wondering what this roots-band is up to these days. You could say that they are “Half a Day Away,” and “Stuck on Survival,” at least according to two songs of off their new album, Found.
Always plaintive, the band might be wearing their hearts on their sleeves a little too much. Like sweet baby birds, we don’t want predators to swoop down into the band’s comfortable nest and snatch them. Tracks like “Half a Day Away” and “Say That It’s over” start off sweetly melodic but risk floating away into a poppy oblivion. This would be unfortunate, especially when it’s more amusing to float into a field of poppies. “Love Lies Awake” seems to betray their vulnerability a little too much.
On another note, with such influences as Third Eye Blind, Ben Harper, and the Foo Fighters (all bands that have succeeded with their high-powered, emotional vocals), Honor by August has already wooed an audience that keeps coming back. These guys are technically skilled and catchy--I just suggest they guard their little heartstrings a little more by loosening their ever building crescendos and climaxes. If their melodies played a little more hide-and-seek, it might be a less easy for crazed fans to corner them.
