Review Summary: Bent on becoming commercially successful, The Getaway Plan delivers a strong, sometimes sedated, release while retaining a little of the post-hardcore edge of previous releases.
The Getaway Plan, a promising band from the streets of Melbourne, looks to be the business in becoming the next hugely popular Australian rock powerhouse. For one, it’s incredibly easier to digest, with the album laden with pop-hooks and slick production, commanding you to pay attention to singer Matthew Wright’s incredible range and melody. On the other hand, the album suffers in its ability to contain any purpose, and for some listeners, redundant in its use of ballads and focus on Wright's voice.
Where The Getaway Plan really succeeds is where they combine a delay drenched spaced out feel with overdriven guitars and the heavier tinge of their previous EP. Wright, in his own way, has developed tenfold from their EP ‘Hold Conversation’. Within his arsenal he holds a really commanding falsetto, a strong melody driven clean voice, and sparsely uses a thick scream, although it may not appeal to some. ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ feels like an album getting a feel for layering melody, and developing a coherent establishment of interplay between instruments, band members, and tracks. A majority of the songs are piano driven, and while all the songs could be simply played at the piano, it demonstrates the focus The Getaway Plan have on melody and proper songwriting.
Whilst melody flourishes, lyrical purpose and commanding listeners’ interest takes a back seat, and the album on the whole feels like an attempt to burst into mainstream success. It’s in this fashion that the album’s appeal only works for some people. Whilst some songs really won’t command your attention, there are some gems buried in amongst. ‘Streetlight’ is an absolute stand-out, containing the urgency of their previous EP, whilst also streamlining it for radio-air play. In a sense, it contains the best of both worlds; the urgency, screams, guitar leads of post-hardcore, and the pop-hooks and melody sensibility of mainstream music today.
The album does feel a lot like hit and miss. While every song contains the same feel and is very consistent, there is a variety of flaws. The album is dragged down by ballads; with the exclusion of closer ‘Transmission’, ‘A Lovers Complaint’ (the title enough incentive not to bother with the song) and ‘New Medicine’ fail to capture the attention or urgency found on other tracks. The focus is solely on Wright’s voice; themes of the inability to fall in love and falling out of relationships really don’t do any favours for the band. Of the other faults, the one filler, ‘Entr’acte’ seems like a poor attempt at post-rock; however it rolls beautifully into ‘Red Flag’s walls of distortions, and the two songs work best if listened to as one song.
‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ could have been a much better album had The Getaway Plan had more of a focus on purpose. The album just doesn’t say anything. Had the lyrics been improved, the ballads cut off, and more songs written in the vain of ‘Streetlight’, the album would have been much more commanding and interesting. Otherwise, ’Other Voices, Other Rooms’ delivers us a pleasant introduction to Wright’s falsetto and brilliant sense of melody, and a foray into songs bent on delivering mainstream success.
