The Album:

Let me tell you, this might be one of the best debut LPs I have ever heard, and there are so many reasons as to why, so let’s not sugarcoat anything and get into it. To start, Half Alive has established such a strong, ornate, and innovative characteristic sound that you can’t really put them into a specific category. Each selection of theirs that you listen to, you’ll find yourself leaning towards a different genre, and eventually you’ll notice that that’ll happen with each track. As one makes their way throughout the record, it is evident that they will be getting dashes of the pop, modern, party, alternative, electronic, indie, rock, and sometimes even the punk music genres. All of these together give the band a vast majority of opportunities, musically speaking, to do whatever they want. With that, the band creates tunes that drive with a natural dancing groove that is overly pleasant to listen to. Having that as the basis for each track gives the artist the chance to extrapolate their instrumentation and lyrics on each track to give the audience something new at every turn. It’s quite hard to pinpoint the exact point of this record, for it is very all over the place while feeling so connected in the same breath (?). I know, very complex, but oh so simple all at the same time. Overall, I would give this album a 5 out of 5 stars. I am giving this record such a score because the music is so innovative yet nostalgic, which makes it destined to be a hit. Also, this album is more of an experience than a piece of music, so do yourself a favor, and join the story.

 

Top Tracks:

“still feel.”, “Rest”, and “ok ok?”

After diving into the record, it is notable that each track resonates in its own light. Knowing that, it is very hard to pinpoint which of the selections are “better” than the rest, but guess what? I made the hard decisions: I did the thing because these three tracks are it. These works stick out because they drive with a variety of musical genres while also giving the audience something super catchy to attach to. As all of this is occurring, the band is able to work with the variety of musical techniques that are heard throughout the album, which gives the audience the best representation of their style. Therefore, if you’re going to check out this album, I would start here to get the summary of the band with three killer tunes.

 

The Artwork:

 I must say first and foremost: the cover art for this album, before knowing it was an album cover, I would totally hang on my wall- it is that fresh, innovative, and simply chic. The artwork depicts a couple, without heads, dancing in front of a sun. The general color scheme for this album derives from the orange and red spectrum as the picture of the modern sun is the main focal point of the background. When connecting this to the music, it is apparent that there is a connection through how the music fully connects with the audience. Most of the tracks give off a dance influenced vibe, which would drive a fiery force, and that is the perfect pairing for a red/orange color scheme. Overall, I would say that the music and the artwork are both strong by themselves, and together; they come together to make an album that is simply unstoppable.

*”Now, Not Yet” was released on August 9^th, 2019 through RCA Records.