ALBUM REVIEW: “And The Running With Insanity EP” by Alcoholic Faith Mission

February 03. 2011 | By Valerie C.

Alcoholic Faith Mission
And The Running With Insanity EP
[Paper Garden Records]

The Danish sextet’s latest EP is perhaps their most palatable release to date. While previous AFM records sounded decent, their penchant for rather silly lyrics is probably a big reason most haven’t heard of them before. That could all change with And The Running With Insanity.

While AFM still occasionally goes back to their silly lyric writing ways, as in the chorus of “Tinkerbell I’m calling out your name” in “Legacy,” it no longer sounds ridiculous. Instead, the lyrics bring a certain whimsical charm to the song and, on a larger scale, the rest of the record. Kristine Permild’s often sweet, but sometimes wounded animal sounding vocals add a depth to AFM’s overall sound. The record is heavy on melody and is quite easy on the ears, with the occasional atmospheric crescendo that takes me away to my happy music veg-out place in the backwoods neighborhood of my cerebral cortex. Yet, Alcoholic Faith Mission remains firmly grounded in alt-rock, which is sort of refreshing in this current age of auto-tune and electro everything (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Listening to And The Running With Insanity has me wondering how AFM sound live. I may have to trek down to SXSW, where they’re scheduled to play, to satisfy my urge.

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