SBSR: Ask for Joy “Hand Tame EP”

Ask for Joy “Hand Tame EP”

<1> “Summer Getaway (I Got the Beach)” – So far the chimes don’t make this sound like the Go-Go’s.  The male vocals are interesting.  I want to compare it to All-American Rejects right away, but there are other factors at play here as well.   The vocals almost remind me of Gabe from Midtown as well.  The chorus area kicks in nice with a drum machine.  It sounds like something out of the National Lampoon Chevy Chase era or maybe “Summer Rental” with John Candy.    It also has a definite Duran Duran feel to it.   

<2> “Hey Tracey” – This song begins with more of a rocking start than the chimes and stuff.   The vocals have that deeper, gritty sound like Lou Reed or Bob Dylan.    Apparently, this is also the power ballad.  I’m also hearing a little Soul Asylum in the vocals here.  

<3> “Learning to Fly” – Please let this be a Tom Petty cover.   It is.  It is a Tom Petty cover.   It sounds like Phil Collins’s solo stuff, which just makes it awesome.   Ahhhhhh I love this band now, this is so awesome. 

<4> “Dragonflies” – I was going to request this to be an Owl City cover, but that song is called “Fireflies”, so apparently that cannot be so.  Imagine if it was like a Weird Al version though, same song only slightly different lyrics?  That’d be crazy.    This song does start off a bit slower, so the first one was kind of the odd one of the bunch.   It’s seemingly just getting slower with each song.   This actually sounds- in the verse- like it could be a NKOTB ballad.  I’m just waiting for Joey Mac to belt it out.  PLEASE DON’T GO GIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLL.   Okay, maybe I had too much sugar today.  I saw a tag once on Band Camp for a band that said “chillwave”.   If it was not Ask for Joy, they should start using that tag.