Half-Alive: Now, Not Yet Review

Sometimes a band comes along that's just really hard to describe. On one side of a particular coin, it's bands that are so precisely themselves that they can't be stuffed in a box with other artists. On the other side, it's those with no identity, jumping from box to box. One can't be generalized clearly, the other is too general to gain clarity from it. Neither side is inherently good or bad. Being original is hard, and being heard in a crowd is also hard. 

Half-Alive have crafted an album that clearly hasn't reached for originality, content to dance joyously and faceless like the figures on the cover. Certainly there's talent to go around for the trio of Josh Taylor, Brett Kramer, and J Tyler Johnson as evidenced by their moving target of style. There are many moments where this serves them well along the way--and some where it works against them. If this is where they start their career, they're ahead of a lot of acts and can build quickly.

The most surprising thing about this band is that they're religious. Of all the things they sound like, a religious band is not one of them. Even reading the lyrics will only clue you in every now and then, which is enough to build a religious inspiration in the rest of the album. Personally, I wish more artists worked like this. Switchfoot would be the closest thing to what they do, but again, Half-Alive doesn't sound like Creed wannabes, nor do they sound like praise bands.

They hit as many other things as they can, though. One moment you'll hear a little 21 Pilots style wordsmithing on TrusT with weird organs cutting in and out, another you're listening to a massive Bon Iver ripoff on BREAKFAST. I wouldn't have picked Pure Gold as the one song they nabbed We Are Scientists and Vampire Weekend producer Ariel Rechtshaid, but when you get that chance, you go for it. Most of the time, however, they sound very much like late Miike Snow and recent sellout Glass Animals (Seriously, Zaba had me all excited for nothing) with big looping textures and a kitchen sink approach to sound manipulation. If you can't stick around for a full album, you'll get most of what you need from Still Feel, an electric and broad piece that boils until it overflows. Showcasing their abilities to shift tones, belt a line, and keep a quite technical drumline is a risky move for a single song, but it does rock. Even when it sounds like Madonna.

They can't keep it up for the entire run, quality wise. There's only so much their overproduction can mask, and it begins to tilt under the weight. Pure Gold isn't a particularly catchy tune in the first place, and it only really comes together in the wordless chorus where they pull back on the number of sounds thrown at us. Maybe doesn't even have that going for it; it's a serviceable but forgettable point. TrusT is a low-key song that works at odds with the big synths that flood out the mid-album breathing room sorely needed, and the messaging loses punch for it. They can't even help themselves on arrow, where you'd think the interplay between the guitars and drums would be enough soundscape for the tone. If you've ever listened to Sylvan Esso, you'll have heard this inability to leave well enough alone (although their pandemic era live set is proof that they can write a damn tune).

There are great examples of production heavy music that is otherwise simplistic. I Think of Madeon, Miike Snow, and Caravan Palace: without what they do after recording, they wouldn't be who they are at all. Jungle has also leaned full force into this, even going as far as putting together album-spanning music videos to accept their station. This isn't that kind of project though; the underlying music is very much the point of these songs. 

I feel like I'm being overly hard on the group, but only because there's some songs that really pull together quite well. The opener ok ok? does a better job at being late-stage OKGO than even OKGO ever did, and follows it up with a really well paced piece with RUNAWAY. It isn't until the middle of the album that things start to feel like the band was high on ideas and low on the talent to pull it off. Maybe the most irritating overconfidence, though, is Rest. Did they really think they could do a good job with an Anderson Paak vibe? No. They do not have the proverbial bars to spit. 

It's a problem that will plague them if they don't figure out which direction they want to go. What they shouldn't do is try to be Bon Iver, Anderson Paak, Madonna, Miike Snow, or 21 Pilots. They can sound great when they stick to the basics, allowing their personalities develop naturally. This mask-donning business will make them listenable, sure, but it won't make them memorable.

6/10