Chasing Kings Title: The Current State Of Our Future Label: Self-Released Year: 2009 Rating: 3.5 / 5

Chasing their dreams to fulfill life as bonafide rockstar musicians, like the greater half of the population, Chasing Kings are one step closer to fulfilling those dreams with their latest EP. Filled with soaring melodies, drawn out breathing vocals and songs that classify into the ‘catchy’ label, this EP is a good start for this band. Chasing Kings’ The Current State Of Our Future is a well produced album with great production value, good songwriting and solid song structures. Fusing elements from influences such a Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, Chasing Kings have created a lovely batch of songs that are genuinely honest and original. With that said though, I felt that the rest of the songs didn’t live up to track 1. Track 1 “Empathy” has so much aptitude that the rest of the tracks seem to not stand on their own and in fact, kind of get lost in translation. The rest of the songs do have their moments but seem to lose steam as the EP moves forward. I tell you though, I see the potential in this band. That first track has so much promise that if Chasing Kings were to fortify their music around that track, they would come up with a winner. Matt Schwartz seems to be the main focus of this group as it should be since he is the voice. Matt’s got some pretty interesting vocal melodies and does a good job singing on all the tracks but I somehow feel that he still has more to give in him. He also channels Chris Martin of Coldplay heavily. Not sure if they just have the same vocal texture but even some of the deliveries are the same. I did find two gems out of six tracks though so that’s not bad at all. The other gem is “An Empty Handshake” which draws a delicate soundscape, driven by a lovely piano riff and Matt’s serenading vocals. Overall, The Current State Of Our Future doesn’t Wow nor take your breathe away but it does offer a lot of promise and potential. I feel that the band does need to find it’s identity and place in the musical landscape and I actually have no doubt that they will. I’m going to give them 3-5 more years. By then, I’m sure they’ll show up on the radar and make their stamp in the music world.

By: Gian Erguiza