ACT II: THE MEANING OF, & ALL THINGS REGARDING MS. LEADING

Act II: The Meaning Of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading is the debut album from The Dear Hunter. The title suggests that there is an Act I which is also true, but it is an EP called Act I: The Lake South, The River North released in 2006 not a full album. On Act I Casey Crescenzo was the only member of the band and while there are other members mentioned on drums, keyboards and guitars my guess is that they are hired guns and not real members of the band. This is Casey Crescenzo´s band which is clear when you see that he has written all the material and plays Guitar, piano, bass, keyboards, percussion as well as sing lead vocals.

The music style is alternative rock with progressive tendencies and bands like The Mars Volta, My Chemical Romance and Panic at the Disco comes to mind even though The Dear Hunter has their own style. The aforementioned bands are all more or less emo but as with The Mars Volta, The Dear Hunter is far away from being a fully fledged emo band. It´s thankfully more a tendency in their music than a dominant part. The Dear Hunter´s music is very vocal based but there are definitely some interesting instrumental things being played here and there. The music is very melodic and Casey´s singing style makes this a very emotional experience. This can be both a good and a bad thing depending on your taste. The album lasts for 76:56 minutes which can seem a bit too long and I must admit that I liked Act I a bit more than this one, but on the other hand there are no bad songs on Act II, some of them are just a bit too similar sounding.

The musicianship is excellent. Casey Crescenzo is really an accomplished musician and his sidekicks also play their parts well.

The production is well done. The emphasis is on the vocals but everything is clearly heard in the mix.

The cover art is beautiful and in line with the cover from Act I. I think it´s a beautiful concept.

Act II is a great album even though it doesn´t really suit my normal taste. It´s way above average though and deserves 4 stars. I´ll recommend that you start with Act I though as it is a bit more accessible since it´s not as long.