Slow Buildings - An Old-Fashioned Appeal EP

​Slow Buildings 

An Old-Fashioned Appeal EP
​self-released

3.9 out of 5

By Ted Rogen 

The latest effort from Slow Buildings comprised of Jason Legacy, Chris Fuchs, Samuel Ballard Jr., and Michael Augello entitled An Old​-​Fashioned Appeal EP is their best yet. An Old​-​Fashioned Appeal EP is a pop record in the best sense of the word. It’s an extremely catchy EP that contains melodies that you want to get stuck in your head. You won’t mind singing these songs in the shower because they are good not like some of the songs you might hear in the radio that you aren’t so fond of. 

One thing that I think has to be mentioned is the band has a lot of similarities to The Shins. The songs themselves certainly have a tinge of The Shins in the production but Legacy has a striking resemblance to James Mercer in the way he sings.

They open with “Do You?” The song feels carefree almost like a children's song. There isn’t an ounce of pessimism here. The vocals carry the song but the instrumentation is also great. You will be most likely be addicted to the song but don’t put it on repeat just yet. There is more ear candy coming. “An Old-Fashioned Appeal” is just about as addictive as the opener. The clean guitars sound great against what I think is a vibraphone. Up next is “Happy I Am” and by this point I had no idea which song I liked the best. Each song I was listening to sounded more memorable than the last.

“Umwelt” is a littler more atmospheric then the previous songs. That being said it's just as catchy and contains more great vocal lines provided by Legacy. They close with “Clocked” which is the most rocking song on the EP and is arguably the highlight.

​Slow Buildings is a great band and they go five for five with this EP. I’d say the only thing they need to be aware of is how similar they can sound to The Shins. Some of the songs could pass for B-sides on Chutes Too Narrow. Other than that the band has what it takes to gain a large audience.

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