The Appleseed Cast - Middle States (Graveface, 2011)

The Appleseed Cast
Middle States
Graveface
2011

Rating: 5.5 tin pans worn as hats out of 10

I've long been a fan of the Appleseed Cast, but the sort of fan who likes their records, listens to them for a little while, and then totally forgets about them. To be honest, I didn't even know they were still around until this album crossed my computer. Well, at least they seem to be calling it an album, but at four songs and under thirty minutes this is an EP in my book. But that only matters to assholes like me who get anal retentive about classifications.

The last time I really paid a lot of attention to this band was 2003's "Two Conversations", a fantastic record of post-emo-post-rock with lots of sonic exploration but still within the confines of the traditional rock song. Their music is quite catchy but not really poppy, if you know what I mean. Honestly, this EP only hits that territory for me in one of the four songs, the title track "Middle States". But it hits really hard on that one, one of their best songs of all time. The rest of it kinda fills a touch like filler, or maybe the greatness of that song just makes everything else feel mediocre. At a minimum, if you're a fan of this band hunt out the title track, and who knows, maybe the rest of it will stroke you properly as well.