Track A Tiger – I Felt The Bullet Hit My Heart

Chicago five piece Track A Tiger love their carefree, breezy sound.  Their latest full length, I Felt The Bullet Hit My Heart, exists almost entirely around the calming melodies of influences like Papermoonsand Belle & Sebastian.   It’s easy imagining the band getting lost amongst the lazy soundscape of slowly strummed acoustics, moving their heads gently to the slow poppy flow of twinkly guitars and gentle drumbeats.  While more experimental than psychedelic, an overall carefree aura dominates all else, making I Felt A Bullet Hit My Heart an album with more personality as a whole than on a track by track basis.

As the album winds its way through twelve wistful tracks, particular instrumental flourishes establish a foothold.  The album opens with “Don’t Let The Nightlight Dance,” which finds vocalist Jim Vallet opening with a Bee Gees inspired pitch making it sound as if it was plucked right from the 70’s.  Underneath, a carefree essence sweeps on in, binding the sweeping electronic waves and lingering guitars together.  “Always Untrue” follows, introducing a country twang and folky, softly plucked banjo into the mix.  The next few tracks focus on a highly relaxed feel, brimming with repetition and soft choral chants.

Unfortunately the band explores its entire scope of sound very early on, meaning that what sounds fresh at first eventually fades into a muddy background consciousness.  In fact, by around the fifth track the album losses its defining personality.  Come to think of it, the album suffers from a rather narrow audio range, and when listened to in high doses detracts from even the back end’s strongest tracks.  While some might argue that Track A Tiger establishes a binding continuity, I couldn’t help but feel unfulfilled.

Overall I Felt A Bullet Hit My Heart gets the job done, serving its purpose as a relaxing soundtrack to a carefree day.  But much like a carefree day, nothing truly remarkable happens in spite of the appreciable demeanor.  Only those deeply invested in the genre need apply.