By Staff Writer Sawyer Pollitt.
The Greeting Committee is an indie music group from Kansas City, Missouri. On October 26th, they released their latest full-length album This Is It. In the same vein as the last review, this is it, a This Is It first reaction.
The album started off strong. I always hesitate when going into indie-pop-rock music because I know it often doesn’t scratch the musical itch that I often look for. This time I was pleasantly surprised. Many of the tracks that fill up the first section of this album are unique in a fun and exciting way.
The opening track Is This It? provided a chugging bass line that sounded like butter, lubricating the entire song. A slightly strange transition between verse and chorus was helped both by the buttery bass and by the horn section that lifted the mood of the song and gave it life that it would have been lacking otherwise.
You’ve Got Me was the stand out star of the album. It was a funky train ride that I was happy to be on. Powerful horns and soulful backing singers coupled with singer and bassist Addie Sartino’s powerful lead vocals really lifted my hopes for what I thought was going to be a standard indie release. Just when I thought I had heard it all, The Greeting Committee came in with a lovely string ensemble that beautifully complimented everything else going on in this track.
However, all good things must come to an end, as I was reminded of during the course of my review. When I take notes on an album, I always mark the point at which I no longer want to listen to the music playing through my headphones.
For This Is It, I reached that point during the song Flint. It was at around the halfway mark of that song that I became tired of the fluffy, plinky, free-flowing, hipster-millennial, indie pop that I had been listening to for the previous twenty-four minutes.
One may say, “But this is a fluffy, plinky, free-flowing, hipster-millennial, indie pop band! What do you expect? Experimental, industrial, hip-hop?” No, I don’t expect anything groundbreaking, I do however, expect songs to be able to differentiate themselves from each other, and not make me feel like I accidentally pressed the repeat button.
The lead singer of The Greeting Committee, Addie Sartino, falls into the trap of sounding like every other singer in her genre. It is boring. At first, she is able to wow listeners with soulful vocals that made me feel something other than tired, but by the end I was wishing songs were recorded as instrumentals.
As I sat in my office listening to the latter part of This Is It, I questioned where the fun and interesting sounds that characterized the beginning section ran off to. Gone were the groovy horns and funky bass that gave this LP a unique vibe that was reminiscent of 60’s soul music. I could see the numbers in my head counting down from the solid score of 8 or 9 that I was feeling at first all the way down to where This Is It currently stands, at a 5.
All in all, this album made me sad and not in a good way. The music didn’t evoke feelings of sadness and loss, but instead left me wondering where The Greeting Committee went wrong on this project.
Normally, I look at an album in the context of its genre. For what it is, This Is It is a decent indie / alternative rock album, however, knowing what The Greeting Committee is capable of leaves me disappointed. If you’re a fan of this style of music, you will love and adore this band and all of their work. If you’re anything like me, this album will not satisfy you