Skip to main content

Inside the Box - A Review

A few days ago, I posted a review of the new EP on the HNET forum - this is a slightly edited version, saved for posterity, because the world needs my opinions, of course…














 Dance Like You Don't Care
This is the song I should not like because it's synth-tastic and a nonsensical dance track. But it's really catchy and it actually makes you want to dance (I don't dance, so that says something). And am I the only one who mentally substitutes the lyric ‘jump in the air like a wild man’ with ‘wild mare’ or ‘wild bear’? 

Give Me Your Best Shot
This is my 'skip it’ track. It's just not a style of music I like at all - kind of dancey late 70s funky something? I don’t have the musical terminology for it but it’s this year's answer to MMFH's 'Show Me The Way’. Although I get it that that kind of music belongs to Hanson's roots and inspiration, it doesn't speak to me at all and actually it’s the only song that bored me during the stream.

Grace Unknown
Well. There we were, all panicking that there was no Isaac lead on this EP and then he hits us with this beauty. Quite simply, this is one of Hanson's best songs, period. I'm honoured that they decided to give it to us as a Members' track, but really this song should be on an album, changing people's minds about this band. The lyrics are beautiful and Isaac totally nails it. 

Don't Hide Your Tears 
I must confess that this song had left me a bit cold during the stream, but actually, now I quite like the finished version. Hanson channel their inner Beach Boys with the melody and although I'm not a massive BB fan, even I occasionally give "Pet Sounds" a spin. Nice experiment and really interesting, intricate harmonies.

What Are We Fighting For
I really liked this song during the stream and I still like it in the finished form, although I’m not hugely keen on the arrangements - I would have preferred a more stripped down sound. But it’s still a fantastic song and Zac’s singing reminds me of Chris Martin from Coldplay in certain parts. I’m very glad that they decided to keep the lyrical theme universal, instead of narrowing it down to a love conflict type of narrative. I think this song will really work live.

In Conclusion
Inside the Box is not going to take the place of “Sound of Light” in my own personal Members EP chart. However, I find the experimental side kind of fun and interesting; the results are songs that don’t sound like Hanson songs (whatever a Hanson song is supposed to sound like). This EP offers an eclectic selection and includes a song that already shows all the signs of a classic.

 Hopes & Fears (a tarot reading style heading) - I fear a forthcoming album full of ‘on trend’ synth-heavy songs. I hope that with this EP, Hanson got this 80s synth phase out of their system and by the time they record the next album, they’ll pick up their guitars and go back to a more rock’n’roll sound.


'Inside the Box' can be purchased as part of the 2015 Fan Club membership on Hanson.net
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hanson Day 2019: a Recap

Registration To everyone’s surprise, registration opened before the event had even officially started, on Wednesday afternoon. I don’t know if that was planned, or if it was a last minute decision, but it was a good idea regardless. It’s obvious that more and more people are arriving to Tulsa earlier in the week, so it makes sense to try and register as many attendees as possible, as soon as possible. So by late afternoon on Wednesday I had my bracelet, my tickets and, most importantly, my EP. I’d lugged my trusted old MacBook Air and an external CD drive all the way across the Atlantic with the sole purpose of being able to listen to that EP straightaway so I headed back to my hotel room for a very exclusive Listening Party. ( Check out this blog again soon for a full review of the EP .) Storytellers Setlist This year’s Storytellers was effectively an acoustic show, centred around the Underneath album. It’s a golden combination for me, as I discovered the b...
1 comment
Read more

A BTTI 2017 Post-Mortem - Part 1: Dissecting the Shows

It was only going to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience: the solo sets had sold it to me, and besides, I’d never seen Hanson play with the full band. A one-off. Yes, it was only going to be a one-off. Well, that was 2015. On a grey and wet British New Year’s Day, I boarded a Jamaica-bound flight, ready to do it all again for the third time in 2017. Those who have read my blog posts from BTTI 2016 might remember that I wasn’t exactly awestruck by last year’s event: I’d found the shows lacking something, not to mention I'd been left seriously disappointed by Isaac’s solo set (for an Isaac ‘girl’, this is a serious matter). Aside from having fallen in love with Jamaica, I guess my mixed feelings about 2016 were part of the reason for wanting to go back: I had such fantastic memories of the 2015 shows in Cancun that I wanted another taste of that experience. I knew BTTI was more than a holiday with friends: it was a chance for me, as a European fan, to load up on Hanson conc...
8 comments
Read more

Is this In Real Life? A review of Hanson's 2019 Fan Club EP

I was in my hotel room in Tulsa when I first listened to the EP. I’d ferried my trusted seven year old MacBook Air all across the Atlantic, complete with an equally old and battered external CD drive, with the sole purpose of ripping that CD the moment it was in my hands and listening to it in religious contemplation. Compromise The first song in the EP, "Compromise" starts with a piano and guitar intro, and instantly puts me in a state of acoustic bliss that reaches its nirvana as Isaac’s voice comes on some twenty seconds later. Before you can scream ‘Isaac lead’,  Zac takes over vocals on the second verse,  with the final part going to Taylor. After my initial split second of disappointment, it made complete sense: it’s a song about compromise, shared among the three brothers and layered with their trademark harmonies in between each verse. What is that if not a perfect example of musical compromise? Thematically, my first thought was that the lyr...
Post a Comment
Read more