Southerly / The Conversation - Split
Label: Fall Records
Style: Indie Pop, Singer/Songwriter, Folk
Released: 2005
My Grade: 2.5 stars
AMG: n/a
Sounds like: Rocky Votolato,Denison Whitmer, Pedro The Lion


This split album is a swirling mess of harmony and catchy phrasing, each ‘band’ is in actuality just one man, following the current trend of going by a pseudo-band name instead of their real name. Each artist blends his own style of indie pop and singer/songwriter flair into something enjoyable, if not unique.

Southerly (a.k.a. - Krist Krueger) starts off with the charming “Stand Up” and proceeds to blur the lines between folk, pop and singer/songwriter; Sometimes he succeeds in creating charming songs, but nothing to memorable. “Be Good To Eachother” does a wonderful job of getting on my nerves, don’t get me wrong - it’s a pretty song and all, but just how he says ‘good’ drives me nuts.

Jared Putnam (i.e. - The Conversation) uses his six songs to further the cause of indie pop, blending and bleeding his heart to the masses. There are no standout tracks, because each one just falls into itself and the continuation never expands. His heart may be in the right place, and he may even get somewhere someday, but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have enough chutzpah to really push himself into being truly memorable.

Overall these artists are talented, but not too talented, and their music is pretty but not too pretty. The vocals start to get on my nerves by the end of each artists set and when the album ends I say to myself “well that was nice” and promptly place it on my CD rack to forget about for another six months. This is not Fall Record’s greatest release, but it shows the strong presence they are growing in indie pop.

Reviewed by: Samuel Aaron