Rising from the ashes of the now-disbanded Nico Blues, Wayne, NJ's The Sound Is Fine are starting from scratch with a new sound and a new EP that came out in February. The band's six-song debut combines pop hooks with some big, hard/alt rock guitar sounds and Evan Campbell's sneering vocals.
"It started off with a bang," shouts Campbell to open the record on "Big Dream Kid." That's appropriate as almost every song here includes some explosive sounding guitar. The song itself could be a take on the band's own story of having to start fresh after having been in a band on the rise. "Big Dream Kid" forms kind of a pair with poppy rambler "Wrong Time to Look Good" and its picture of the difficulty of maintaining artistic integrity in the music business. Closing track "Running in Squares" sounds like it's going to send us off on a quieter note, but the song eventually builds to a couple of big blowouts of its own.
Throughout the EP, The Sound Is Fine pull from a number of influences, from 70s hard rock ("Another Kicked Pupil") to 90s alt rock ("Rapture In Queens") mixing and matching as they go. They come up with a sound featuring a wall of distorted guitar noise that can't hide their pop sensibilities. It's a combination that works well on this EP; and, while the members of The Sound Is Fine are starting over, they've taken a solid first step.
The Sound Is Fine is available now as a "Name Your Price" download over at Bandcamp.
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