I Am Alaska - 2011 So They Say

Band : I Am Alaska

Album : So They Say

Release Year : 2011

Genre : Post-Hardcore | Progressive | Experimental

Tracklist :

1.The Morning After   
2.Sheep In Wolves Clothing   
3.Go Forth   
4.Eat Your Melancholy   
5.Patriot   
6.So They Say

Sitting somewhere between Circa Survive and Glassjaw, I Am Alaska’s self-released 'So They Say' straddles a fine line between pretentiousness and grandeur. Admittedly the vocal style may take some getting used to, but in between there are enough flashes of talent to make this a solid EP. 'Eat Your Melancholy' is a highlight; the guest vocals of Shawn van Brocklin of Greene Reveal definitely add a Circa Survive-y feel to the song, but the lyrics are strong and the musicianship is excellent.

A band that shows plenty of ambition always draws my praise and I Am Alaska are no different. There is such wide scope on display here that I can’t help thinking that a full-length would be suitably epic.'Sheep in Wolves Clothing' seems slightly atypical of the rest of the album, but it stands out because of this in a positive light. In six songs, I Am Alaska prove that they are capable of showcasing different musical styles.

Overall solid lyrics, good musicianship, interesting song structures and plenty of ambition makes this an EP worth searching out. Fans of Coheed, Circa Survive and Glassjaw should find plenty to keep them interested. -Nick Robbins

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I Am Alaska - 2008 A Day In A Life

Band : I Am Alaska

Album : A Day In A Life

Release Year : 2008

Genre : Post-Hardcore / Progressive / Experimental

Tracklist :

 1. Proletariat
2. Death In A Silent Picture
3. Get Real
4. Wallflower
5. Ghost

 

Any band who seemingly takes readily-present influences like Circa Survive, later This Day Forward and late At the Drive-In / early Mars Volta has the ability to produce something special and cathartic. Unfortunately for I Am Alaska, they merely treat their EP A Day in a Life so that it ends up a chaotic, disorientating and confused mish-mash of the aforementioned.

Opener "Proletariat" is certainly trying, ushering things in with restraint and a cooing vocalist, then transitioning later on into something substantially more energetic and stuttering; it does sound vaguely like Relationship of Command or In Response, but it also seems sort of clumsy and something else is generally amiss. The next track, "Death Is a Silent Picture," is mildly smoother in such a transition yet seems to prove I Am Alaska have to stick to a formula like such once in a while to make an impact. 

"Get Real" has some seriously promising elements (the Cedric vocal aping at 1:13 is pretty sweet), but it straddles a line between queasy Mars Volta worship and smooth influence integration, too often falling into the former camp.

Give credit to I Am Alaska for at least having the right rearings and an ambitious story to go along with it, that being the narrative of a ghost trapped in another person's body. But don't give all the credit to them quite yet; that is, at least based on this anonymous ghost's Day in a Life. 

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I Am Alaska - 2009 To Elude The Architect

Band : I Am Alaska

Album : To Elude The Architect

Release Year : 2009

Genre : Post-Hardcore / Progressive / Experimental

Tracklist :

 1. Canvas
2. Where the Wild Things Are
3. Lobo
4. Train Car
5. Them

Hailing from PA--not Alaska--the progressive/experimental/post-hardcore quintet that constitutes I Am Alaska share their newest design. There’s a sense of cold, off-the-grid loneliness associated with ‘Alaska’; just an instinctive image of frozen, foggy tundra. IAA caged this mental image, locked it up in a mason jar, and stored it in a dark cupboard.
To Elude the Architect, IAA’s second (also more dense and ripened) EP delivers potent punches one measure only to caress the measure after. They managed to take the blistering passion from A Day In a Life and harness and manipulate that vitality without dulling it a note. They poked little air holes in that mason jar to allow solemnity to waft out throughout the EP, and occasionally they pop the lid to release a wailing windstorm.
To Elude the Architect bellows out to those who listen--howling “ESCAPE!” …to elude your surroundings. …to elude anything that attempts to predestine you. Being born into a town isn’t a definitive identifier, so IAA document the struggle in leaving people/things behind that have woven and wriggled into your life. How do you leave that which you were inevitably attached to? IAA requests you join in with the escape.
Should they be considered the band-baby of a Dredg, At The Drive In, and Circa Survive ménage-a-trois? No, and they don’t attempt to. But it’s impossible to ignore layers and inspirations relative to these bands, and fortunately this collision isn’t forced or messy. IAA is following in the current wave of experimentalism; this sub-genre inherently creates that which is new, and this EP obliges. Sometimes the guitar is pounding in unison with warbly, fervent, and violent vocals. Then the ensemble shifts to soft, sculpted, soothing melodies with atmospheric, snaking guitar lines. These transitions from frantic to soothing are palpable and melodramatic, and this contrast is a strongpoint of the EP, which is incredibly layered, so set aside some ear-time to decipher everything.
The overall effort shares the same concept. “Won’t you come with me” is repeated in three of the songs. An empowering call for others to join in with not merely accepting change, but provoking the changes in your life…eluding the maze-like floor plans that the architect pens out.

 

 

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