Holiday Murray go to the trouble of packaging this eponymous effort in a lovely cardboard mounting. The value of this is in the message the band is delivering to its potential audience: "We take ourselves seriously, so you should too."
The downside, of course, is that they take themselves seriously, and if you're not really in that mood, Holiday Murray the album is tough to get into. I had three different responses to the album on the three occasions I listened to it for review, and I'm not too sure that's a good thing.
That said, some parts of the album are very pleasant; "Homeless and Happy"'s instrumentation reminds of a Steve Wycombe-led Waterboys ditty; and "The Sea Finds Me" is a pretty left turn on an album that threatens a bit of saminess towards the end. maybe it's telling that the songs that stand out for me are the ones that are the most unusual in the context of the album .
Watch the new video "Antagonizer" here
The band also relies on strong harmony work - an underused tool in modern band rock I feel. A pity that the vocals are mixed with such heavy reverb, which is a bit inapproriate for this type of album perhaps.
Still, you feel that Holiday Murray's signature mega-hit song is just around the corner. Which is not to say that this is a poor collection of songs necessarily, just that the balance isn't quite where it's threatening to be yet.
Reports have it that they're great live act as well, though I hasten to add that - at least traditionally - this particular brand of pop rock tends to do well in some areas and not in others. If your cup of tea sweetened towards the Sons of Trout/Mikanik family or their ilk, you'll probably want to check out the Murrays.
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