This Providence – Self Titled

In 2004, This Providence broke onto the scene with their debut album, Our Worlds Divided, on Rocketstar Records. The album was released to relatively good praise, got them a small, but growing, fan base and set them out on the road to make a name for themselves. Sadly, the CD was pretty forgetable and the band went silent for a while. They then signed to Fueled By Ramen to help get their name out there even more and here we are now, with the band’s sophomore album in our hands. An album covered with influences from varying labelmates and an album that will be, once again, quite forgettable.

The biggest influence from this Seattle based band comes from Gatsbys American Dream, another Seattle band. The band has the same laid-back sound, piano melodies and half spoken/half sung vocal delivery. They throw in the occasional “woahs” in the background vocals in attempts to make the choruses more memorable; but other than the bouncy beat that songs like Walking On Water are based around, the album is far from memorable as the songs blend together forming one gigantically long, monontonous track. In fact, the album pretty much just goes by without any impression until the eight track comes in,The Road To Jericho Is Lined With Starving People, whose soothing piano melodies and passionate vocals that build up for a more climatic release which seems to be more similiar to Seattle’s Death Cab For Cutie rather than Gatsbys (can you tell that Seattle has a close knit community of musicians?). The song, with the catchy chorus, bouncy melody, and the stragetic use of clapping hands in the background make it a song that stands out – and finally a chorus that is actually memorable (“If loving was easy,it wouldn’t be love.”) Other than that, the album fails to really stike a chord with the listener.

The band kicks the album off with their single, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, which sounds oddly similar to The Academy Is…. Even the vocalist takes on William Beckett’s vocal style, going along with the choppy guitar riffs before going into the slightly faster more methodic Card House Dreamer where the vocals finally take a step out into their own style. Still, other than the chorus, the song fails to do anything – and the CD just goes on.

The album isn’t horrible, but it’s easily forgetable. After a week, it’ll be in the back of your colllection collecting dust – after all, how many of you still pull out Our Worlds Divided to listen to?