Ashland 'Over The Moon' (Album Review)
Oscar Rendon | St. Louis, MO | December 24th, 2019
Ashland is a band from central Illinois that I have had the pleasure of seeing in concert multiple times. From the Firebird in downtown St. Louis to opening up for Story of the Year at The Pageant. Ashland have become a main stay in the STL music scene for quite a while now. From their early days of releasing EP’s with songs like “Eyes To The Sky” to releasing their first LP Wildfire in 2017, the now duo have found success touring across the midwest, most recently they embarked on their first national US tour. Just days off the heels of their month tour they released their sophomore album ‘Over The Moon’. The band has gone through a lot changes over the years but one thing that never changed was their love of music. When most bands would have quit, Asia and Aaron persevered and continued to make music and evolve as duo. Because of their resilience we got great tracks like “For You”, “No Good”, “Always Something” and countless others. Here is our review of ‘Over The Moon’.
Over The Moon (Album Review)
“I Hate That” kicks off the album with a nice head bop tune, easing you in to the LP. What cuts through is Asia’s voice and the mixing of the track that highlights her voice. I love a song that also has a great story and the lyrics for “I Hate That” are clear and audible and I think we can all relate to song like this and the content it holds about ex loves. The instrumentation is good but the drums really set the tempo for how you move with the song. “Over The Moon” has a different feeling than the rest of the songs on this record, it’s one I hoped they would follow more but I really enjoyed the hooks and Asia’s lyric genius. In past records and EP’s you could tell that this was the direction that Ashland was headed slowly but surely and I love that it’s almost a pop ballad but the chorus really has you standing up and applauding. “Over The Moon” is a perfect example of a good pop song that deserves to be on radios and playlists across the nation. “Motivation” is a good blend of the old and new Ashland, the guitar played by Aaron Wood adds this dramatic tone that if you stripped the vocals this could be a song you hear for a film trailer. “No Place” is an interesting one, I can picture this song just not in 2019. I can almost hear this song in the early 2000’s. So far I like the choices the duo of Asia & Aaron are doing musically, keeping you on your toes. “Ghost” if you pay no attention to the lyrics feels like this upbeat and triumphant song, but when you do plug in the lyrics it adds to the triumph the song carries with the repeated line of “who do you think you are” which to me translates as “I’m over this, I’m over you, I’m better off”. “Ghost is definitely a pop song of today and fits right in.
“Get To Know You” is another out of the blue song that returns the band to their roots with a much more faster paced chorus and melody. It’s a song that you can rock out to and jump to if played live. “OMG” is a little punk, a little pop and a little rock. What I enjoy about the song is that I can sing along to it, its catchy and has flavors for everyone. “OMG” is PPR (Punk-Pop-Rock) which is why it’s so hard to put Ashland in a box as they kind of break the rules with genre. “Think You Know Me” has that summer pop vibe that makes you want to roll the windows down driving on an open road. Definitely a song that needs to be in your next party playlist. Asia’s voice is amazing, transitioning from the many different genres each song takes on. “I Don’t Mind” is refreshing as the penultimate song of the record, it’s slow in tempo and when Asia hits the chorus it’s beautiful and haunting with the echo mix which is used in a great way. “Gotta Go” is an appropriate title for the last song of the record. I like the message of the song which is one of not knowing what comes next but looking forward to the adventure/journey. The track is masterfully mixed and the instrumentation is perfect! By the time the song ends I’m left wanting more.
Overall, Over The Moon has great tracks for any occasion and genre. The standouts for me were “Over The Moon”, “I Hate That”, “Ghost”, and “Gotta Go”. Personally, I was gravitated to the faster paced songs on this record. Instrumentation is good, I did miss the guitar in some of the songs and noticed the use of “Ohh” in a lot of the lyrics. Not really a critique of the band as much as a critique on how most songs nowadays use the “Oh’s” as a last resort. Ashland manages to use them to their favor and they build an impressive album that is unconventional that I hope more artists take note of. I truly believe the band has only scratched the surface of what they are capable of producing and I look forward to hearing what comes next.