Fair to Midland - Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True Review

Fair to Midland's "Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True" is a wonderful display of eclectic styles, haunting vocals and clever lyrics. You'll find it has a hard time leaving your music player.

This release is the band's first major label debut with six of the tracks re-released from their previous independent "Inter.Funda.Stifle." With a bigger budget, the band comes across as more polished and definitive.

They handle the heavy tracks like "Dance of the Manatee" with a practiced fury, and lead us into slower-paced yet just as hauntingly powerful tunes, like "Say When". Vocalist, Darroh Sudderth, who shows amazing range, showcases his voice on "The Wolf Descends upon the Spanish Sahara," with his melodic wail sound.

Keyboardist Matt Langley's skilled sounds help give this band what so many others are missing. Cliff Cambell's guitar is nice and varied, and balanced well with Jon Dicken's bass lines that never get boring. Brett Stower's definitely shows off what drums can do for the music, as heard in "Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes." Also, the band has done well to add little bits of extra layers in between the songs that makes multiple play-throughs interesting!

The improved quality and the updated songs show us not only how far Fair to Midland has come, but their potential for future growth. The new songs on this album are as good as any they've done thus far. One would be hard pressed to find a definitive genre for this band and "Fable's From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True" is well worth the purchase.