Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
The Dear Hunter
Act I: The Lake South, The River North (CD EP)
Music Quality: 8.5
Production: 7.5
Originality: 8.0
Tracklisting
2. The Lake South
3. City Escape
4. The Inquiry Of Ms. Terri
5. 1878
6. The Pimp And The Priest
7. His Hands Matched His Tongue
8. The River North
I was never a huge fan of TREOS but I can thank them for one thing, guitarist/singer Casey Crescenzo leaving to front The Dear Hunter. The Lake South, The Lake North is the first EP from the band, and while it is long for an EP it is enough to leave me wanting more. Various song styles take the form of pop/rock (a la P!ATD), stoner rock, and folk/blues. Boasting carnival like horn sections and melodic keyboards, the EP sounds bigger than a four-man team.
The opening two tracks and the finale are for the most part instrumentals which I feel always gives an adequate start and finish to an album, serving as bookends to support a sturdy record. Crammed in the middle are 5 tracks that are an average of 6 minutes long. Backing vocals on “City Escape” are on par with Claudio Sanchez as the song transitions from calm to chaos and back again. Aside from the cabaret-like bridge, “The Inquiry Of Ms. Terri” sounds like the twin brother of Thrice’s “Red Sky” as it builds to a soaring finish. What I think is the best track follows, the dreamy “1878.” Casey’s vocals are tremendous here as the trippy, stoner-rock lulls the listener through 7 minutes. Horn-heavy “The Pimp And The Priest” is reminiscent of P!ATD with it’s theatrical/narrative nature. And lastly, the folk tune “His Hands Matched His Tongue” courses through barely above a whisper until the chorus hits.
I’m sure there were multiple influences present here and many comparisons could be made to different genres, but fans of Dredg and As Tall As Lions will love this album after one listen through; others shouldn’t take too much longer. I didn’t dive very deeply into the lyrically portion but I did read about a near-future book release that I believe corresponds with the story being told here, keep on the lookout for that.