To be honest, I found the last Greenlightmeans…go! release a real disappointment. It was clear the band had good ideas, but the end result was a poorly produced demo which borrowed too heavily from the likes of Dashboard Confessional, with some weird keyboards thrown over the top. When ‘I Dare You’ landed on the doormat I didn’t expect it to be great, so it was a nice surprise to find out the band have improved immensely in the past 6 months. With a better sound and better structure to their songs, Greenlight… have managed to improve every aspect of their band.
Whilst ‘I Dare You’ is a massive improvement on their last effort, the band still have some way to go I think. Tracks like ‘Everything You’re Scared Of’ sound like My Awesome Compilation, resulting in a shift from the acoustic sounds previously to a full band effort that still sounds a little borrowed. ‘The Choice Of A New Generation’ would be a fantastic track if the keys were removed – for me they actually detract from the quality of the track rather than add to it; it was a comment I made last time round and it’s one I feel still stands. With bands overusing keys as it is, I feel that Greenlight don’t add anything that neccesitates using them.
Overall this demo shows huge improvement on their last effort and so the band need to be congratulated for that. But, like a diamond in the rough, there’s still some way to go if they want to hone a sound that will appeal to a lot of people. If they can make similiar sized strides as they have done between the last two releases, the next CD could be the one that takes them to a wider audience.
www.myspace.com/greenlightmeansgo
Paul