The Beautiful Mistake / Ettison Clio

Oddly enough, the band who comes out on top on this split isn’t the infinitely more established the Beautiful Mistake, for whom this represents the first batch of new material in nearly three years. Instead, it’s the lesser-known Ettison Cleo, whose only claim to fame seems to be their popularity on MySpace. With three tracks included here, the revamped Beautiful Mistake sound exactly like their old line-up, playing the kind of tired, middle-of-the-road pop emo that Victory Records successfully killed several years ago. Ettison Clio, while not breaking down any significant musical barriers, have the added bonus of the phenomenally talented Stephanie Gunther on vocal duties, who helps elevate the band’s fairly standard Further Seems Forever-type emo to their own unique level.