Speak Easy’s 'Hearsay' takes a step in the right direction

Last Tuesday, local band Speak Easy dropped their debut EP “Hearsay,” a collection of five rock songs with varying influence and insane cohesion.

I’ve spoken with the members of Speak Easy, the name of four Troy students’ band, a number of times in the past and very rarely have I met people with such a genuine connection as a band. I’ve heard their covers in local bars and tracked their growth from performing, to writing and recording and to now releasing.

That’s a big reason why I was so interested when Speak Easy member Nate Braisted sent me a text message telling me they were about to drop something new and original. It’s now been about a week and several listens of the EP since I got that notification, and I fully understand why the four are so proud of what they’ve put out.

The EP opens with “Holly Would,” an infectious earworm with some really great guitar work. Following it, “Jane” takes on a more serious Midwest-emo-ish, pop-punk-esque approach with the most perfectly raw guitar tone riffs on the record.

“Dekalb” features some really incredible drum fills while “Imperfection” digs really deep into a really nice shoegaze influenced soundscape.

“Imperfection” stands, ironically so, as the perfect blend of each band members’ performances. From the dreamy and distorted build in the beginning to the insanely intense post-chorus guitar melody, “Imperfection” easily cemented itself as my favorite track from the EP.

The final track, “Time Will Pass,” keeps the distortion going as Jack Anderson, the band’s lead vocalist, sings almost operatically. By the end, it winds up being the perfect outro to the first of hopefully many releases from Speak Easy.

Before any critiques are mentioned, I really want to drive home how phenomenal it is to see a group of college students go from booking bar venues as a cover band to writing, recording and releasing original tracks. That’s so rare.

It may even be rarer for a group of college students who are, as I’ve been told by band member Tate MacNicol, not classically trained musicians or child prodigies, to have released something so cohesive as their first project. That’s so impressive.

As I’m listening, though, I can’t help but feel like so much of the music’s impact is lost in the mixing. I absolutely adore the guitar distortion through the majority of the record, and the drum fills are insane, but I’m left a bit hungry by how hollow they sound.

That’s likely a rare criticism – I often hear more people confused about mixing complaints than people complaining about mixing – but if the drums were punchier and the guitars were fuller, then I think I would’ve been even more impressed in this debut.

Anderson’s voice is great and incredibly clean, which I think really benefits the sound on more traditional rock tracks like “Holly Would” and “Dekalb” that don’t have so much distortion, but it doesn’t mesh quite as well on tracks like “Imperfection.”

I’d really like to hear a more raw, imperfect vocal style from Anderson in the future to better suit those soundscapes.

That said, I don’t want to distract from how insane of a feat this project is, and how impressively done it is. It’s insane how young, fun and impassioned each track sounds, reflecting each band member’s nature.

I was so happy to see these four guys cut their teeth with this EP, and I can’t wait to see what they can sink them into next.