To run or not to run?
Morning Runner are supporting Coldplay, a pretty big feat to live up to eh? It took me a long while to wrap my head around Coldplay's music and I still don't like all of their songs; I'm feeling the same way about this EP. The first track 'Work' has great lyrical content about moving on and being left behind, but the song is so, so boring, it doesn't go anywhere, sort of like a sub par Athlete. Pianos twinkling in the background do nothing for this track, if anything they sound a bit out of place. A dash of originality I suppose, but this track does nothing for me.
Track 2 is 'Hold Your Breath', it's slightly more engaging, the piano doesn't sound so out of place, it adds light to a song that's otherwise quite melancholic. Singer Matthew has a great talent for writing emotionally deep lyrics, but his voice is really quite same-y, sounding like about a million bands out there, which makes me wonder if he's playing the right type of music to apply his more-than-able vocals to...
Track 3 saves this CD for me 'It's Not Like Everyone's My Friend' starts off reminding me of Elton John's piano playing. No, seriously. Then the guitars kick in and make this sound all the more epic, the vocals finally seem to come to grips with the music and the lyrics. A mixture of Pavement, Elbow and Radiohead as influences can be heard here and it's just altogether a more gripping track than the previous two.
Morning Runner aren't the new Coldplay, but I guess that's a good thing, no two bands should sound exactly alike. But I don't think they compliment each other either, Morning Runner are a bit drab and dreary, but show incredible promise especially lyrically. The last song saved this band for me, and I have hope that they'll progress to show more originality than they did on the most part of this record. But for now, I don't think we need another Athlete or another Coldplay so they won't be on rotate in my CD player until they develop more of a unique sound. Sorry boys, emotional dexterity and social commentary only get you so far...