To use a sports analogy, Daisyhead feel a bit like a prospect that hasn't quite panned out the way scouts expected. In 2013, the Nashville band started out with the promising I Couldn't Face You EP, bursting forth with a dark, anxious energy that made for a brief but exhilarating debut. Since then, they haven't exactly lived up to their early potential.
Their first full-length, The Smallest Light, was imperfect and inconsistent but otherwise good — the kind of result you'd generally expect from a rookie player — but with In Case You Missed It, they seem to have fallen into a sophomore slump that prompts the question of whether they might be a bust.
Few if any songs in this batch have the intensity of an earlier cut like "Dishonest." Instead, they plod along in an orderly line of mid-tempo, medium-distortion emo-rock songs without a whole lot of dynamic variety. Exceptions include the heavy, rousing "Common Ground," the propulsive gloom of lead single "Don't Feel Bad" and the cascading ambience of "Opryland Lights."
Others, like the acoustic "Ready for the World," the mostly instrumental opener "Hold the Door" and the placid comedown track "Dark Circus" make it seem like they just aren't trying hard enough. The rest are fine enough, but it can be hard to pick one apart from the other.
The band are at their best when they're in a heated bout with the force of emotion; they somewhat play to those strengths here, but not enough. As a result, In Case You Missed It is decidedly ordinary, which is disappointing only because the band's biggest moments have hinted at something potentially extraordinary. Here, Daisyhead sit in the middle of the pack when it seemed like they could have been in a league of their own.
(No Sleep)Their first full-length, The Smallest Light, was imperfect and inconsistent but otherwise good — the kind of result you'd generally expect from a rookie player — but with In Case You Missed It, they seem to have fallen into a sophomore slump that prompts the question of whether they might be a bust.
Few if any songs in this batch have the intensity of an earlier cut like "Dishonest." Instead, they plod along in an orderly line of mid-tempo, medium-distortion emo-rock songs without a whole lot of dynamic variety. Exceptions include the heavy, rousing "Common Ground," the propulsive gloom of lead single "Don't Feel Bad" and the cascading ambience of "Opryland Lights."
Others, like the acoustic "Ready for the World," the mostly instrumental opener "Hold the Door" and the placid comedown track "Dark Circus" make it seem like they just aren't trying hard enough. The rest are fine enough, but it can be hard to pick one apart from the other.
The band are at their best when they're in a heated bout with the force of emotion; they somewhat play to those strengths here, but not enough. As a result, In Case You Missed It is decidedly ordinary, which is disappointing only because the band's biggest moments have hinted at something potentially extraordinary. Here, Daisyhead sit in the middle of the pack when it seemed like they could have been in a league of their own.