Little by Little

Musical Album Review: Harvey Danger's Little by Little

First of all, kudos to the band for producing their first album in 5 years. Most of you probably will remember them from their hit single, Flagpole Sitta, in the late 90's. Since then, well, not much has happened for them commercially and I think they experienced the growing pains of a band that looks like it's made its break, but then finds itself relegated to the "one-hit-wonder" category. I think most bands deserve this award, but HD didn't end up there because of lack of talent; I think the problem is that they are a cerebral band that doesn't translate well into catchy pop melodies.

This album features more use of piano than previously heard and it is used extensively for melodic tempo. I'm usually not a big fan of this kind of music, but they do an all right job [two other bands that do well with pianos: Muse and Ben Folds Five (okay, so this one is built around him and his piano, but it still counts)]. They're pop rock throw-away is Cream and Bastards Rise which is getting airplay on the West Coast (they're a Seattle band)-- usually the pop-rock single will be the best bet for easy listening in an album and it's almost true on this one. My favorite song is Moral Centralia which has a very sanguine beginning that works in a slightly distorted guitar rift creating the instrumental layers to support the searching, introspective lyrics. If you look at the words too hard, it's a little whiny, but I don't know anyone who has handled a relationship break-up (that wasn't mutual) without sinking to deep depths of personal self-pity. Overall, this is an okay album, it won't knock your socks off, but it's nice to see them still working at it. You get the sense that they're still searching for the right combination. One really cool thing, their album is available for free from their website: Harvey Danger. Go check it out for yourself!

Overall Grade: B-