The Gallery
If You Know What I Mean
2008, Blue Duck Records
rock
This country-rockish debut by Massachusetts-based band The Gallery is reminiscent of 3 Doors Down before they feasted on sentimentality and Creed before they got boring. Yet The Gallery manages to be far more melodic than either, leading the listener down a well-traveled yet bumpy path to the end. What fascinated me was how the songs were arranged, so that the band grows lyrically and emotionally as the album wears on. There are some playful and hopeful elements, such as “Circus Song,” but most of the album reiterates the ‘it’s me against the world’ sentiment. A decent debut, but this band requires their own sound and some truly personal and unique lyrics to really make a statement for itself.
Disclosure: The Gallery was brought to my attention by Joe Urban from Third World Industries, and he was nice enough to provide a copy of the album. Please see my review policy for more.
“Circus Song,” “Drift,” “The Introduction.”
myspace, last.fm
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Tags: if you know what i mean, lifehouse, no name face, the gallery
