Augustana
2003
Independent release
This EP starts out with its title track that has a remarkable strength. Not long ago Augustana released their demo album “Midwest Skies & Sleepless Mondays” that didn’t feature this song, and ‘Mayfield’ is a step forward. There were some good songs on their debut demo, but Mayfield beats most of them. Good vocals and a tight, professional instrumental back up provide for a strong, energetic modern rocker.
‘Feel Fine’ is another new song. I really like the potential of this song, but I feel like this recording doesn’t completely do justice to the song. It’s a good song, essentially, but it’s not really shining through in this version.
‘Brace’ carries on for over 5 minutes and frankly it gets boring after awhile. It’s just to slow and never really gets going. Also I don’t think the vocals or instrumentals do anything particularly exciting in this song. I feel bad for saying this, but I just don’t think this is a very good song.
Then we hear the almost experimental ‘Saints’ which just doesn’t sound like Augustana to me. I tried really hard to appreciate this song, but it just doesn’t do anything to me. Augustana’s a band with remarkable melodic qualities, but in these slow-paced, almost smeared out songs that don’t take off, they aren’t showing their true face.
‘For Mother’ is the in-between-song. It does take off at times with an almost JJ72 like existentialism, but it doesn’t sound much like Augustana at their best. For me it beats the last 2 tracks, but it can’t top the other two songs. At the end of the song we get some free rock that made me smile.
The “Mayfield [EP]” didn’t make me too excited about Augustana’s future. I was hoping for something more melodic as that is where their real quality lies. I had good hopes after listening to the first two songs, but the last part of the EP made me feel slightly disappointed. On the other hand, maybe it’s good they do this so early in their careers so they can get it out of the way. I am very curious as to what their full-length official debut will bring.