Music Review: "If You Ever Had a Chance, Then it was Now" by A City Heart

A City Heart's EP "If You Ever Had a Chance, Then it Was Now" is a soothing blend of Dntel-inspired synthetic sounds and natural vocals. Though vocalist Dustin Kniffen, can sometimes be a bit of a drone, he's never obnoxious or whiney. Kris Keyser, the instrumentation and programmer of the band, is a senior here at Drew University and has made lethargic, fun, electronic sounds.

"Don't be a Stranger" starts out the EP with static vibrations and confused and incoherent voices resembling a throbbing heart of a city. "...And Now It's My Story" ends the EP like it started with the same languid and dreamy sounds that is disassociated with the music it was set behind.

"Explosions," the second track, blends together with the song before and is just as dreamy. It's a slow song and slightly repetitive, but the influences from Dntel and The Postal Service show the most in the musical segment in this song, making lovers of those bands swoon while listening to this track or cringe at a band following a trend.

"Thought Patterns" has a great beginning with a simplistic, but sweetly playing piano. However, the rest of the song is much too drowsy and slow for my taste and for others who like fast paced melodies.

Speaking of fast-paced, my favorite song on this EP is definitely "Maybe, It's Vanity." It's upbeat tempo and static clicks and reminiscent of playing old school game boy. Lines such as "So what would you say to me if / We were along / Hand in hand /And those stupid words fell off my tongue again" have an honest tone. I had this song stuck in my head for days after listening to it. My only complaint was that A City Heart needs more songs like this one.

Weird and odd can be used to describe "Decorate the Sky." This song of co-dependence has bittersweet lyrics that have both signs of arrogance and love behind them. "I'll decorate the sky with your name / If you'll just let me know / You need me." The contradicting sounds within the music and vocals make it a definite favorite and an interesting listen. Maybe A City Heart has forgot to put on their Myspace that they are a fan of David Firth's brain-child, Locust Toybox, because the video game-like melody mirrors the mixing style of Locust Toybox's "Hyper Darts Challenge."

With a cohesive and well mixed EP, A City Heart is a band worth poking around and lending an ear to. It's odd, but way too good to turn down for less than six bucks on iTunes.