Bob Dylan meets Neutral Milk Hotel. The style most overtly borrows from influence NMH, but the music remains refreshing enough. Vocals sound like Bob mixed with Jeff Mangum and Isaac Brock. There are light touches of horns and other eclectic instrumentation layering behind the folksy core of harmonica and acoustic guitar. The production is fantastic and definitely does not take away from the songs. While The Slings are not reinventing the wheel, this combination of styles is incredibly refreshing and well done. The Slings are out of Orange County/Los Angeles and this is their debut. Recommended. No FCCs noted.

1. Opens with minimalistic harmonica, and slowly finds itself in the company of fuzz bass, percussion, guitars, singer sounds kind of like the guy from the Goo Goo Dolls on this sound (3:42)
2. Twangy, drenched guitars back up the normal frame, vocals sound very Bob here, (4:08)
3. Jangly rhythm guitar augmented by lush orchestration and prominent percussion, organ, electric guitars (3:16)
*4. An affecting chord progression with melodious vocals, primary hook sounds like an accordion, fades into 5 (3:29)
5. Title track, slow number centered on acoustic guitars with noodling in the background, harmonica solo at crescendo/bridge/outro(4:06)
6. Subdued guitar builds to fuzz bass, bells, tambourine, shakers, Mangum-esqu backing vocals, horns (3:19)
7. Tense horns open track with intense acoustic guitar, drums, middle of track breaks down and gets sort of alt-country, outro features what seems to be a mandolin part and guitar solo (3:34)
*8. Electric guitar wanders and song picks up to a Western, cowboy romp, vocals are low and smooth, picks up again for last bit (4:06)
9. Folksy intro, glockenspiel and drums add to chorus, vocals have a Western snarl (3:07)
10. Organ, drums are featured layered on top of simple acoustic number (2:59)
11. Warm, jangly guitar, builds up on some interesting instrumentation, including some electronic riff, handclaps, electric guitar solo
*12. Folksy intro develops into more folk-pop, synths, tambourines add to this slower number, some Mangum ‘yee dee dee’s cover the pretty outro (5:40)
13. Lyrics are religious in nature, folky guitar, bells, light percussion, a warm song with a nice harmonica appearance (4:28)
14. Percussion opens the track, song is a bit surreal in its repetition, lush instrumentation of bells, fuzzy stuff, horns, accordions, and more Mangum borrowing (5:49)