Arts & Entertainment
 

Ingram Hill set to explode with its radio rock sound

Simple riffs, music without risks not enough to start revolution, but enough to propel rockers to radio popularity

By Ray Hafner
The Daily Cougar

Fans of radio rock, where bands play it safe and stations play even safer, will have much to like about Ingram Hill's debut album June's Picture Show. With a bluesy, rock feel that tosses in a couple of country touches, Ingram Hill seems poised to fill the FM void between the Counting Crows, Creed and Pat Green.

Simple guitar riffs layer the songs while lead singer Justin Moore gets things rolling with his Tennessee twang. 

Ingram stays true to the radio formula. Just as the verse changes, the drums and bass enter, washing out the sound and drowning the listener in the same old sounds.

But Ingram Hill works as a band. It's nothing special, but it's a strong quartet that, if the members decide they want to take a chance, could become something big.

The sound seems just right for what it wants to be, not overproduced or excessively studio polished. 

Before and after releasing an EP in 2002, Ingram Hill toured almost nonstop cutting its teeth in any rock 'n' roll or honky-tonk joint that would have it. 

Although the sound seems to have jelled, it doesn't do much to stand out.

They'll be making a stop in College Station on Wednesday and Houston folks will get to make up their minds when the band plays for free downtown Thursday and Feb. 1 as part of the Super Bowl festivities.

But if amid the beer, cheerleaders and 300-pound linebackers, concert-goers tend to forget lyrics like, "She's almost perfect / She is so close to being everything / She is so close to perfect / But she's not, she's not mine," they can certainly be forgiven.

That song, "Almost Perfect," is one of the weaker tracks musically but typical in its lack of ambition.

Some of the best tracks are the country-styled ones, like "On My Way," where Moore sings about leaving a girl.

Moore definitely has the kind of voice that a legion of teeny-boppers already tired of Jason Mraz could fall in love with, but he's lacking the playfulness of Mraz and apparently the energy to emote even just a little bit.

The rest of the band is also pretty forgettable. The bluesier tracks aren't much fun and there's nothing exceptional there either. 

Still, it's not bad, just not gutsy enough to actually try something daring or new.

With any luck the band is waiting for its next album, which it probably hopes will be buoyed by the tail end of lots of exposure. 

It'll need to step up the pace though, or there's little chance for a third.

Ingram Hill

June's Picture Show

Traveler Records

The verdict: The band is just OK, but it will probably be huge.

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