MP3 REVIEW: Animal Flag “The Sounds of Sleep”

http://animalflag.bandcamp.com/album/the-sounds-of-sleep
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                When listening to Animal Flag for the second time, I couldn’t help but notice some of my original ideas about the band staying alive while other ideas faded away.   Back when I reviewed “Everything Will Be Okay” (http://raisedbygypsies.blogspot.com/2012/12/mp3-review-animal-flag-everything-will.html) I really wanted to compare Animal Flag with Mumford and Sons for some reason.   Now, in “The Sounds of Sleep”, I can’t even hear them coming out any more.

                 “The Sounds of Sleep” falls somewhere between Blue October and when Linkin Park tries to write a good pop rock song (Which they usually fail at) for me.   It has a definite acoustic sound, but it is also mixed with drums and other rhythms that are the polar opposite of the acoustic guitar.  

                Additionally, many of the songs have fairly catchy choruses so that by your third or fourth listen, you’ll at least be singing along with them.  

                Animal Flag is the perfect example of a contradiction of a band in the best possible way.   They are loud and also quiet, acoustic yet also electric, pop yet also not.    There enough hooks on here to keep even the most jaded of critics satisfied.