The April Skies-Flood

Artist: The April Skies
Title: Flood
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: WIAB Records
Website: http://www.theaprilskies.com
CD Baby Link: http://cdbaby.com/cd/aprilskies2

I knew after their impressive EP that The April Skies would follow up with a great album. I hear a different band on Flood, one that has matured considerably since October 2004 when I covered their EP Breathe. I kept thinking-I know this voice, the sound, it is so familiar! Well, I do not hear the British influence so much anymore, what I am hearing is a similarity to one of my favorite bands The Smithereens, particularly with the vocals. Trust me, this a compliment and takes nothing away from what this band accomplishes on this album.

Flood is great album, period. I call it alternative rock, not in the sense of when the term first came about many years ago, no, this is an alternative to crap you hear on the radio every day and see on MTV, and a good one at that. The musicianship is marvelous and their sound is a bit difficult to explain, sort of a roots, southern flavored rock at times (even though they are from Hershey PA) with a bit of the blues, some beautiful jazz influenced piano, a wondrous combination of all of that and more. Think of an experiment cloning Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello together to make one person and you have something that sounds like The April Skies, well maybe a smidgen of Dave Matthews in there too just to cover the roots portion of their sound. I cannot help making these comparisons