Artist: The Working Title
Album: About Face
Label: Universal Records
Tracks: 14
Length: 64:13
Review by: Luke Kruse

 

A funny story surrounds my introduction to the music of The Working Title.  About three years ago I was in Toledo, Ohio, seeing emo favorites Copeland and Mae and the opening act happened to be the artist that is the focus of this review, The Working Title.  They were one of the rare opening bands that really made me stop and take notice.  They had a singer with great charisma, a confident stage presence, and, most importantly, well-written songs.  I ventured over to their table after the show and was about to purchase their Everyone Here is Wrong EP when I realized my wallet was empty.  An attractive girl standing next to me in line noticed my plight and said, “I’ll get that for you.  These guys are so good.  You just have to have the record.”  Before I could protest, the record was paid for and in my hands and that girl was gone before I even had the chance to properly thank her.  I enjoyed that record for a few months, but it soon fell out of my rotation and I kind of forgot about The Working Title until I received About Face, their major label debut, in the mail to review.

 

It is no surprise that this young band from Charleston, South Carolina, has found itself on a major label, as more than one of the tracks on About Face has radio potential.  The Working Title is a modern rock band that paves no new musical ground with their 3-4 minute acoustic based love songs; however, the songs they have are mostly quite good.  The undisputed standout track on the album is “The Mary Getaway,” a soaring song about heartbreak with a killer chorus.  The song is buried in the second half of the album, and works nicely to make sure the album does not run out of steam, a danger The Working Title flirts with on About Face by putting fourteen tracks on the album.  I maintain that twelve tracks are about optimum for a standard rock album, and the near 65 minute running time on About Face is simply way too long.  The Working Title could have easily trimmed two or three songs off the album and had a stronger and more digestible album for it.  

Lead songwriter and vocalist Joel Hamilton seems to take his cues from genre staples like The Counting Crows and The Goo Goo Dolls, two bands that The Working Title opened for this summer.  His voice has a slight nasal tone, but not to the point where it detracts from the music.  The rest of the band accompanies Hamilton nicely, but could stand to take a few risks to make their presence felt a bit more.  While About Face may not be the type of album one would enthusiastically purchase for a stranger, those who like their music and lyrics accessible will certainly enjoy what The Working Title has to offer.