The Appleseed Cast - Lost Songs

For quite a while, I've read nothing but good things about The Appleseed Cast. I've never caught onto them though; to be honest, I never even gave them a listen. The day I received their latest CD, Lost Songs, in the mail to review, I skipped over listening to it. As I drove to work the next day, I tried so hard to like the other albums I'd receieved, but they started to bore me. So, I caved and ended up popping in The Appleseed Cast in for the duration of the drive. I found it so effortless to enjoy this CD, I even stayed in my car a few extra minutes once I parked. I didn't even have to try, and that's what makes this or any other album good. It's hard to believe this CD almost never got released. According the liner notes, these nine songs were recorded during a tumultuous time for the band. They were in between drummers when they started work on these songs, and abandoned them in favor of new ones once they found drummer Josh Baruth. They felt like reminiscing, it seems, and went back and finished the overdubs for a formal release. Not to make unfair comparisons, but I think that if Sunny Day Real Estate had recorded Diary on a lot of experimental drugs, it would sound something like this. There are the standard emo-indie guitar parts present, but they're more clever than the norm. They have some wonderful piano parts on songs like "Take," some great sonic guitar work on "E To W," and wailing vocals over "Peril, Parts 1, 2, & 3." I'm not a big fan of the typical emo/indie wail, but Chris Crisci has a great voice for this stuff. This album sounds really experimental and uncomfortable, yet it's still really great. I'm sure fans of the band probably are happy this got released, even if the material doesn't match up to the caliber they'd normally produce. If some these tracks were scrapped in favor of other songs, I'd be sold and feel almost obligated to check out their other stuff. All in all, a pretty decent album. [www.theappleseedcast.com]