Artful Rifle

This six-member group from Philly plays a big electric/electronic sound (on this album released in Sep ’09). The singing is competent & sometimes interesting but not of primary importance: the vox is often buried down in the mix. Instrumentation is big and lush, includes electronic keyboards, drums, electric guitar.
No FCC issues.
Be Sharp’s Picks: It’s all playable;10 and 1 are the highlights.

1. ** Sweet. Synth-pop beat meets Pink Floyd singing. Spacey fade out. (4:16)
2. Up-tempo, driving beat. Lots of organ & drums. Not at all bad, but not a highlight. (4:32)
3. * Drummer starts a fast march; electric guitar, keybd & vox add layers of sound. (4:33)
4. Fast toe tapper. Lots of drum and synth to start. Vox enters mid-way. Try this after you’ve tried the others. (2:55)
5. Mid-tempo beat and big keyboard sound. Singer strains a bit in his high range. (2:31)
6. * Sounds more like a popular song, with the voice more pronounced & the melody more singable than the rest. (3:44)
7. Instrumental with lots of electric guitar, drums, and bass. Cool but very short. (1:20)
8. * The up-tempo rocker of the album. Electric guitar featured. Brit-pop-style vox. (4:32)
9. Fast, driving beat on drums & electric guitar. Vox incomprehensible. Short. (2:04)
10. ** A gorgeous little symphony of electric guitar, synthesizer, electronic sounds, and human vox. Mid tempo, richly layered, and pretty. (4:09)