Engineers

Engineers are another band that is ostensibly trying to be everything but themselves. Their self-titled debut is overflowing with influences and comparisons, but never once does this young quartet venture off into anything original and individually inventive. After a few listens, it is apparent that these boys have done their listening, but instead of building upon their idols’ experimentations, they sound afraid; almost unprepared to write music from their minds instead of copying from their music collection. An ethereal, whispery echo gusts over the vocals of the eleven tracks, but instead of borrowing and building upon the tool from singers like My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and the Beta Band, they rip it off, declaring it their own without the gusto to support the evidence. The final track, "One by Seven,” contains the only genuine music on the collection, almost hinting that after all the musical borrowing the band embarked upon, they sat down in the study, took a collective deep breath and blew off some steam. The result is beautiful, ghostly outpourings that would make any GY!BE or Album Leaf fan blush. "One By Seven” proves that there is potential for the quartet to engineer brilliance (pun intended), but first they have to stop listening to their influences and start listening to themselves. Until then, they will not be able to break free from the Banky Edwards syndrome, stuck in a moment that belongs to somebody else.