1 CENT CD: E For Explosion 'Reinventing Heartbeat' emo

CONDITION OF CD:  Mint Condition!

E For Explosion 'Reiventing The Heartbeat', 13 songs, new 2008 release on the Eyeball Records label, UPC 63787200892.

The solo project from Jamison Covington, front man of Jamisonparker. With a departure from Warped Tour emo, E For Explosion offers an album of sounds inspired by old Cure and Joy Division records. Layered with melancholy up-tempo acoustic guitar within walls of droning Fender Stratocasters and Korgs. "Reinventing The Heartbeat" explores the reinvention of the early 90s from start to finish.

One review reads 'If every band was a marriage, then Jamison Covington would likely be the alcoholic, drug-addled, abusive and embittered member of the former JamisonParker union.

Now shorn of his previous band, Covington returns with his solo project, E For Explosion. Upon first listen, the band sound like the spitting image of his previous band, only with extra fuzziness. Upon second listen, well, it's still pretty much the same. Unsurprising perhaps, but also disappointing that the chance to reach further beyond the realm of J.P was not taken.

The majority of "Reinventing the Heartbeat" could, and will be described as 'shoegaze-lite'. The brickwork of swirling guitars and synths are present at the sides, forming the obligatory wall of noise whereas taking the centre-stage is Covington's breathy vocals, which while being well suited to the music, after over three-quarters of an hour begin to resemble the vocal delivery of a stunned sheep after its eighty-seventh attempt at clearing that fence; dizzy and lethargic.

Lyrics also prove a point of contention throughout, whilst repeating tales of heartbreak through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old may suffice for inclusion on the Warped Tour, in the more mature realm for which Covington seems to be aiming for, they simply won't suffice. Lines like "I'll be your heartbeat / I'll be under your skin / You be my saint and I will gladly be your sin." and "If you have to hurt / I will hurt with you." are unlikely to be adorning the covers of unicorn plastered hope-diaries any-time soon.

The common problem of length also strikes E For Explosion hard. The human brain has many trillions of interesting functions, one of which being the ability to automatically filter out repetitive noise, after nearly an hour of Covington's rarely-changing shoegaze dynamics, it's certainly a challenge to stay focused. Shaved of 15-20 minutes and with a sufficient injection of variety though, and you'd likely be reading a much different review, and we imagine our eyes would of been wider also.

With that in mind, “Reinventing the Heartbeat” would seriously garner a recommendation as an E.P, try making your own consisting of firstly the title track, then "Paper Flowers Never Die" followed by "Antarctica", "I Explode" and possibly "Saving Lives". "I Explode" would undoubtedly be crowned as the star of the show. Its effective use of distorted backing vocals in the pre-chorus provides a pleasing counterpoint to the persistently smooth texture of the rest of the song.

It's a pity we don't give marks for potential in retrospect, for if that were the case, E For Explosion could find themselves within the upper echelons of our grading system, but as the writer Alexander Pope said "Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always to be blest: the soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, rests and expatiates in a life to come." (which roughly translates to "Life's a bitch, then you die") so we'll be giving something a little less impressive.'