HUNGRY MIND REVIEW
4 (self-released)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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I suppose I shouldn't have to tell you that 4 is Hungry Mind Review's fourth album, but if you're like me, you may have missed the first three. I heartily recommend that you don't repeat the mistake. 4 is fabulous.

The album was recorded by a trio version of the band, which has since expanded with the addition of Stephanie Wallace on violin and keyboards and the replacement of drummer Eddie Todd by Rob Hay. As much as Wallace and Hay may add to the band's current incarnation, though, the heart and soul of the Hungry Mind Review sound is intact in the persons of Stephan Bayley, the principle songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist, and Holt Evans, who focuses on the bass onstage, but adds guitar and keys in the studio. Evans also writes, both with Bayley and on his own.

Ultimately, it's the songwriting that separates Hungry Mind Review from the pack. While their sound is classic pop in the Brit mode, with all the usual inspirations cited, Bayley, especially, and Evans not only have a knack for creative melodies, but the ability to incorporate diverse subjects, ranging from a tribute to Jeff Buckley to an elegy for the Heaven's Gate suicide cult. The band's named appropriately, because their music will satisfy your hunger for adult pop that's fine for dancing, but can hold your interest intellectually as well.

It's not brand new, and it's not the band you'll see if you get a chance, but it's music you should hear.

Track List:

Watershed * Under The Volcano * Sleep * Angela * In A Stream * Holding Back * Heaven's Gate * Walk Alone * The Leslie Song * Loving Reins

[Pick this up at CDBaby.]

© 2003 - Shaun Dale