No
El Prado
(Arts and Crafts Records)
2.5/5
LA-based indie sextet No’s debut, El Prado, isn’t an upbeat album, but by no means is it unbearably depressing. With El Prado, No delivers an album with vocal lines that are easy to nod along to, and they also contain some lyrical gems.
The album’s tone bleeds together well, but in some cases it’s too seamless, making the listener hope for a change of pace.
The musical nuances and touches the group use to accent El Prado all feel like something we’ve already heard. It’s not that this is a bad album, but it’s also not a great work of art.
Bradley Hanan Carter, the group’s vocalist, wields a deep voice that’s effective, but over time his singing gets tiring. Similar to the tone of the album overall, his vocals are all well contrived, but over the course of the disc become all too familiar.