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If the city of Seattle dreamed, I imagine her dreams would sound like the upcoming release by The Almost Faithful. A City Dreams is a melodic offering of siren-like vocals by Kyung Lee, seductive lyrics of John Feodorov, and backed by the pope of bass Hal Dreanek. This five-piece takes you on a journey that is at times progressive, often alluring, into a dreamscape of sounds that is touched by the grit of grunge, just like Seattle.
The Almost Faithful’s EP begins with “My Soul is Saving Me” and “We,” two songs that alone would make a solid offering, but the band never stops delivering on songs that are worth listening to and repeating. Kyung’s delivery, reminiscent of Beth Gibbons, is bittersweet and dripping with sultry vocals. Where many bands would fail with mixing silvery vocals and grunge-tinged progressive rock into one consistent package, The Almost Faithful succeeds brilliantly.
Two of the later tracks, “Emerging” and “In the Night,” display some real grit, with Kyung giving a more aggressive, guttural touch to her vocals. It’s an interesting, but not unwelcome movement to this short album. A City Dreams finishes out with “City Lights,” which is a satisfying end to the EP, but also leaves me wanting just a few more songs from the band. However, listening through it again, it satisfies well enough.
This isn’t a perfect EP – there are some lyrical choices that are definitely quirky and I can’t quite decide whether or not they detract or add to the songs. The words ‘like a woman from a birthday cake’ from the song “Emerging” come to mind. While I applaud the originality of the lyric, as a listener I’m stuck with the comical image of a stripper covered in cake, when the song is presented to be taken seriously. The song “Driving to California” feels a little long, but what carries the weak spots in this EP is the delicious delivery of Kyung Lee. She delivers every note with sincerity, raw emotion and beauty.
(A City Dreams is slated to be released in March of 2016. You can pre-order the EP for $5.00 here.)
