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Manic - Floor Boards

Rating

RIYL

Stone Temple Pilots
Silverchair
A Perfect Circle
Incubus

Tracklist

1. Chemicals for Criminals
2. Café Barcelona
3. Leaving Araby
4. In a Room on Fire
5. Mr. Evans

Manic straddles. That two word sentence would best sum up the first impression when listening to the Floor Boards EP, and it hasn’t changed terribly since. They have their feet both into the musicianship driven world of indie music while still managing to not quite shake that “modern rock radio” feel.

While Manic utilizes that “power” sound too often found on the local alternative station, they spread moments of proof that they possess further talent throughout their EP. At the end of “In a Room on Fire”, one can reminisce about some of the spacey guitar noodlings on Radiohead’s Ok Computer. The album’s closer, “Mr. Evans,” is a 6-minute build-up, which incorporates the band’s multi-instrument know-how to achieve an epic soundscape that leaves the listener on a good note. They write catchy songs that find their way back to you hours later without sounding overly poppy. The main complaint to be lamented about them, musically, is that the production sounds rather non-existent. It’s only with headphones on that you can truly hear all the work that went into this album and catch the subtleties that help put their music ahead of the typical modern rock fare.

The vocals on the album are acceptable, but are the main cause for the “radio-friendly” feel, often sounding similar to the singers of Three Days Grace, Filter, or the more acceptable Stone Temple Pilots. (The aforementioned “Mr. Evans” sounds strikingly close to Weiland’s performances on the Shangri-La Dee Da album.)

This album is one that definitely takes multiple listens to truly appreciate. It involves patience and the willingness to hear the heart of the song that lies beneath some of the more conventional sounds. It definitely offers rewards to those willing to seek them out. The breakdown during “Leaving Araby” has a similar punch effect to that of Incubus in “Just A Phase” (that one after the second bridge that just gives you chills).

This EP proves that Manic has the potential to make a solid hybrid of music that can be played on the radio, but with enough artistic integrity to please the more open-minded indie fans. With a little work on further developing their sound and a huge jump in production, they could easily have a strong full-length on their hands.

--Jeremy Deal