As Tall As Lions - Lafcadio

Due to me being called out by a certain someone a few days ago, I decided to make amends and write my latest entry on the Strong Island, excuse me, Long Island, band As Tall As Lions.

To be fair, I had heard of the band before they were mentioned, but I never took the time to check them out. And I concede that I am happy I did. For some reason, going in I expected a sort of Circa Survive-like lyricism with a dash of dance-y Cobra Starship rifts.

Please don't ask me why I thought this way, it just happened.

Turns out As Tall As Lions plays kind of like a harder version of The Kin, a band I reviewed earlier. On first listen today, As Tall As Lions didn't really do much for me. But as I listened to their debut album Lafcadio again, the band is starting to grow on me. Having been listening to a plethora of Dear Hunter lately, it's a bit refreshing to listen to an album that's weaving part of a six-arc story.

The biggest thing that I got out of the album is that an As Tall as Lions live show would be awesome. Passion seems to flow through the vocals, guitars, bass and drums that usually only gets seen when bands play live.

(side note: it is this passion of live shows that bugs the hell out of me when people say that they have never been to a show. And no, that Dave Matthews concert you saw in high school while drunk of off stolen booze from Mommy and Daddy doesn't count.)

Another thing I like about Lafcadio, is that while the songs don't race or scream, I can still get hyped after listening to them. Also, I find it really weird that the song 'Acrobat' reminds me of Seal's 'Touched by a Rose.'

Sadly, I wish I could have discovered As Tall As Lions a month ago when they played in Pittsburgh. If anyone went, how was it/are there bootlegs out there on the interweb?