It’s a shame when a band puts out an album with a strong start and a weak follow-through and finish. Morningbell is very guilty of this musical crime, making their album Sincerely, Severely a mediocre artistic attempt.
The album can really be boiled down into a boring string of songs that sound a lot like other bands, robbing the band of any claim to originality. They start with “Let’s Not Lose Our Heads,” one of the stronger tracks of the collection, a song that reeks of the typical indie power pop.
The references to other bands begins on the next song with “Marching Off to War,” an Animal Collective-esque piece with plenty of well-timed yelling but less of the crazy that make Animal Collective’s stuff so enthralling.
Morningbell describes some of their work as neo-soul. This is a very true description of songs like “Soul Ma’am” and the title track, but both are failed attempts at anything truly soulful. “Sincerely, Severely” in particular is rife with sleaze and feels incredibly forced as singer Travis Atria croons out tired lyrics with things like “mama” and “the good lord” thrown in there. As he attempts to hit some high notes that he has no business courting, his words—which appear to be a shot at adding some R&B cred to his craft—are just a sad reminder that real soul died with classic Motown.