'Great Album'

Artist: Alexander The Great
ALBUM: “Faces Change”

A retro color-bled photo – taken by David Woodruff, lead singer of Bloomington’s The Delicious – captures a wayfarer’s suitcase and traveling clothes littering an unmade hotel room bed on beachfront property. This is the album artwork for Alexander The Great’s new album, “Faces Change.”

Like most bands, after dipping their toes in professional recording and playing a brief tour, Alexander The Great dove right into “Faces Change,” a whole new album written about their experiences on the road.

Filled with brilliant transient imagery, “Faces Changes” succeeds in creating forlorn vistas of a band weary by the hardships of travel.

Alexander The Great’s instrumentals have never been better, with even more jangling guitar chords and ultra precise drumming keeping fans’ feet tapping and heads nodding.

Few indie pop bands take the chance of varying their album with an instrumental track, yet Alexander The Great risked it with “Cabin Fever,” the 10th of 12 songs on the album.

Their risk paid off. Preceded by the percussion-heavy, rollicking “Mapmaking Outlines,” “Cabin Fever” provides a needed break. Without lead singer Bryant Fox’s vocals,  “Cabin Fever” slowly takes shape as more and more chiming instrumentals come in through out the song, all while the drums precisely and timely anchor the band.

But, Alexander The Great manages to falter with their cliche song “Postcard.” With obvious imagery, strained vocals and lyrical platitudes, “Postcard” ends up a saccharine substitute for the rich quality of songs on the rest of the album. With similar themes and content, one cannot help but recall Death Cab for Cutie’s trite “Transatlanticism.”

Luckily, “Postcard” is one bad apple that did not ruin the entire barrel.
Instead, “Faces Change” succeeds as a well-orchestrated and executed traveling concept album.