Humbucker united - Cityscapes

Humbucker United

Cityscapes
self-released; 2016

3.1 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
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Gavin Dransfield (vocals), Don Cromarty (guitar), Nathaniel Craft (bass) and Zach Baldridge (drums) are Humbucker United. The band is in the embryonic stage of their development and has plenty of room for growth based on their release Cityscapes.

This recording sounds completely live. The biggest piece of advice I can give this band at this point is to work on their timing. The band doesn't even come close to staying in the pocket most of the time. This is clearly heard on the opener “First Movement in A Major.” I think the lead singer was trying to be funny when he says in the beginning “I want you to sing along.” There aren't any lyrics for the remainder of the song. The band gets noticeably off time every measure. They jam on a basic riff that really goes nowhere. It sounds deflated with occasional surges of energy from the drums.

“Balsutism” is up next which fares a little better in terms of timing. That being said they still need to tighten up their sound. There is too much going on with the drums at times. They close with “Gravity (Fly Away)” which is the highlight of the three. The band keeps it clean, the vocals are somewhat catchy and they manage to stay in the pocket most of the time. 

The songs were written and recorded in about a week and that's really all you need to know. This effort is not comparable to someone who has been slaving away at writing and recording for years.

If I had to guess I would say these guys are relatively young. They have all the indicators. Bands like this come and go and who knows where they will be in a couple of years time. The band has a lot of work and I would tell them to focus on practicing at this point rather than recording. 

​Build the song up, get better at playing together and figure out your sound. Once those components come together you can start thinking about laying down tracks.