‘It Only Hurts The First Time’ is the début album from the Californian band that is Make Me. The sound of Make Me is very hard to define; it’s keyboard pop music with a lofi edge and an indie rock twinge also; even this description is not entirely accurate however as although all these sounds can here be heard in the music of Make Me, a lot of others can too.
This ‘It Only Hurts The First Time’ release is a strange album with which Make Me put across many different opposing sounds, sounds that really shouldn’t go together, and it really sounds that way too. There’s often a horrible cacophony of noise here; out of tune vocals, upbeat synth pop keyboard sounds, and a more powerful rock guitar edge also. The music of Make Me most definitely is different, the problem is however that it just doesn’t work. Make Me is not a band that can be accused of following fashions, copying popular musical trends, or in fact sounding at all like any other artist on the planet; it can however be complained that the music is not very good as it just really isn’t.
Final track ‘Odysseus in Wichita’ is the best that this album has to offer; more of a straight up rock approach is taken here than at any other point on the album and this I feel is something that works out well for the band. It’s not a great track, at least the music is a little more bearable to listen to here however as the sound created here doesn’t come across so messily as with all the other eight tracks on this album. The best is saved until last here, and although it’s not great; it’s the one and only track from this album that I’d happily listen to again in the future.
The lyrics are intelligently thought out here, there is great depth to the lyrical aspect of the music of Make Me but because the instrumental/vocal sound is just so dreadful here the lyrical importance just really goes out the window. The lyrics are great, to get to the lyrics you must first listen to the bands horrendous sound however and this I feel is the biggest problem.
This is really quite a terrible début album from Make Me; there’s a high level of intelligence and lyrical depth here but the music itself really is just too weird and out there. The band is here doing many things at once, too many things at once in fact and the sound created here is therefore not too great to listen to at all. Many different musical influences are showcased here, ‘It Only Hurts The First Time’ is an extremely unpredictable album from Make Me and although not at all to my tastes; it certainly is very different. If you’re after something different then ‘It Only Hurts The First Time’ is an album which most definitely will provide that; the fact that the music is so different will however surely limit this bands potential fan base significantly. Make Me is an artist like no other out there and for this the band must surely be given credit; not too much credit mind as quite frankly this album is absolute utter rubbish.
Label: Plastic Head Music
Release Date: January 1st 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
