Album Review

This record is everything you’d expect from “emo”. Reeve Oliver’s self-titled debut is all things status quo. It’s not a poor recording, and it’s not for a lack of talent that I find this uninteresting, but it sounds like I’ve heard this record a million times. I was burnt out on stereotyped emo before I spun this, and I’m left just as burnt out afterwards. Still, I’ll try to tell you about the highlights. “Yer Motion” is an eerie blend of Dashboard Confessional and MxPx, with a nice falsetto thrown in for good measure. If all the songs were this clever, this album would be a gem. But no such luck. The opening “I Want Burns” works decent enough, and you immediately know why Sean O’Donnell left Dogwood. The guy has serious talent but just needs to make a chance and do something less cliché. “Inhale, Exhale” and “An Offer She Can’t Refuse” are 2 very nice slow /soft songs in their own right. This proves that there might be more to Reeve Oliver than meets the eye. They are both quite opposite from the pop-punkish “Young and Dumb”, another song that could easily be a MxPx b-side. When all’s said and done, this self-titled album is a steady grower, but the initial impression of cookie-cutter emo still haunts my ears. It’s at least worth a listen if you’re a fan of MxPx, Dashboard Confessional, Switchfoot and Brandtson.

~ Garrett Johnson