Album Review: Michael McFarland – We Are The Architects by Bear
Cleveland’s own, Michael McFarland is releasing his new 6 song EP “We Are The Architects” on December 12th and it brings a lot of different flavors in just 6 songs. I’m not crazy about the EP format as you have to pack a lot into usually around 3-5 songs and you don’t get to flesh out the style and flow that you can with a full length album but “We Are The Architects” brings a nice sampling from a talented musician.
The highlight of the EP for me was “Waiting To Live” with that subtle celtic taste that ran thru it. You can imagine The Pogues or Black 47 easily doing this song but McFarland really nails it. How can you go wrong with lyrics like “And we’ll fight when confronted, And we’ll chase what we’ve wanted, And we’ll finish what we’ve started, Burning bright ’til the break of the day”. Listening to the song I can see myself lifting a pint at PJ McIntyres while singing this at the top of my lungs at the end of the night. I like this song a lot.
The other four tracks each have their own distinctive style but with more of an alt-pop feel in each of them. His bio mentions bands like The Fray and Matchbox 20 as comparisons and you can hear it in “Until Your Breathing Stops” and “Jetpack Heart”. Overall the EP is stripped down and raw, it’s McFarland and a guitar but you know what, it’s good, some parts are really good and it’s well worth picking up.
You can get “We Are The Architects” on CD, Digital, and LEGO formats at michaelmcfarlandmusic.com. Yes you read it right LEGO format. In what I think is a great marketing idea, you can purchase the EP in the LEGO format and you get a cube of LEGOS with a download code, after all we are the architects aren’t we and what better way than with LEGOS.
There will be a release party at The Symposium in Lakewood on December 12th starting at 8pm. Sharing the stage with McFarland will be By Light We Loom, The Brothers Band, and Mike Sandy.
Rating: 4 out of 5
