Hamelin
“What you make of it…”

This latest release by Mobile’s Hamelin, What you make of it… is sure to evoke thoughts of Coldplay, R.E.M. and John Mayer with its engaging pop songs.

The CD opens with the up-tempo beat and breezy tone of “Just like you.” A wailing harmonica leads off “Lay Here” and “How It Ends.” The band’s music takes on a toe-tapping country flavor with “Oh Suzanna (The Circles That You Do), “Thrift Store Suitcase” and “Matador”. There is the hint of a blues influence in the harder-edged “New
York.”

The lyrics chronicle the trial and tribulations of relationships, or lack of one. The interesting part about that is the songs were written by two different songwriters in the band. Ross Newell and Garrett Thornton (except “Lay Here”, which was written with Newell and Claude Collier), and without a scorecard it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell which ones were written by whom. Thornton’s descriptive lyrics, like “Loving a woman puts you in your brave / Loving too many will drive you insane” in “How It Ends” and “Lovers and gamblers are all the same / Just playing for different stakes” in “High Stakes Seniorita” keep the songs in the same relationship theme as Newell’s “You can be anything that you want but alone / And so you find someone to take you home” in “Just Like You” and “Suddenly I’m beginning to feel a little passed over and a little naive” from “Red Dress Lay.”

The similar songwriting styles from Thornton and Newell demonstrate how well the entire band meshes together into a cohesive, highly listenable unit and with fourteen songs and over 60 minutes of music, there is plenty to enjoy-(Self Released)

-Kat Coffin
Performer magazine (Southeast)