I really enjoyed The Audition‘s first record, but their second, over time, didn’t have the same passion and enjoyment for me. This record is much improved. At times the band sound like The Higher; there’s much more a good time party vive going on, minus The Higher‘s over-use of electronics and samples. The Audition‘s major weapon is their vocalist Danny and while I wasn’t impressed at all when I saw the band live, it’s fair to say the band are at their best when Danny goes for broke and flexes his pipes. That’s why, on tracks like ‘the Way You Move’ and ‘The Running Man’, up-tempo songs, The Audition sound really good.
When they flatten things out and slow things down the band sound as average as something exceedingly average. ‘It’s Gonna Be Hard (When I’m Gone)’ is just really, really generic and stifles the album’s pace and intensity. The dance-tastic ‘Over My Head’ and the enjoyable ‘Los Angeles’ are much better examples of the band at their best. And while The Audition aren’t poppy enough to catch All Time Low or dancey enough to be Head Automatica, this record is fun and catchy enough to be a summer hit. I can’t help but think The Audition should be so much better than they are, but this album will do nicely for now.