Fingerprint by Stylusboy
A review by Jef Peace
Senior Partner
PeaceWork Music Net
Album: Fingerprint
Artist: Stylusboy
Band Members:
Steve Jones - Vocals, Guitars, Bass and Keys
Tim Bowes - Drums and percussion
Rachel Grisedale - Vocals
Becky Jones - Keys
Track List: (titles appearing as links have an audio preview, click on the title to listen)
Open
Jigsaw
Stopclock
Back To The Start
Roses And Lovehearts
A Song For Noah
Stylusboy has managed to make me considerably soften my stance on acoustic pop rock with their precise instrumentation and their impeccable vocals. The lyrics, too, tend to make me quite a bit more tolerant of the genre: they are creative, light-hearted, contemporary and not in the least smarmy with only a couple lines in danger of being trite.
I've had the pleasure of 'chatting' with lead singer Steve Jones via email and found him to be lucid, pleasant and respectful; traits all too lacking in young artists these days. In addition to his admirable email persona, Steve Jones has a very, very good voice and uses it well on this EP. His enunciation is clear and his timing and pitch are nothing short of perfect. I have a feeling his range is even broader than he exhibits on this EP, which is impressively broad indeed. In addition to providing vocals, he exhibits mastery of both bass and guitar. The bass in particular caught my ear right away. Being a bass player myself, I admire and am even a little jealous of the effortless and tasteful bass lines in a couple of these songs.
Tim Bowes provides metronome precision with his masterful use of drums, cymbals and other percussion throughout this EP. I'm not easily impressed by drummers, but he has managed to impress me with his restraint and precision as well as his creative choices of which tom, snare or cymbal to tap at any given moment.
Rachel Grisedale provides hair-raising harmonies on a couple of these songs. The sadly few notes she provides me leaves me wanting to hear a solo from her.
Becky Jones is another precise musician. Not once did I catch any lagging or mishaps in any of the keyboard parts. In fact, the only criticism I have of this entire EP is I'd like to hear her stretch out on occasion and prove she's as good as I think she might be.
Prior to listening to this EP, I had never heard anything from this genre I found worth listening to a second time and in direct conflict with that opinion, I often find myself playing a couple of these songs for the pure pleasure of hearing nice music while I go about my day. Thanks for that, Stylusboy!
One final note: even though Steve Jones provided me with the mp3 album and a physical copy was mine for the asking, I chose to put my money where my mouth is and purchase this EP, something I've only done twice before out of hundreds of reviews. I urge you to support this worthy artist and purchase a copy yourself by visiting Big Cartel. I also urge you to visit the band's MySpace page to learn more about them