Layman just put out their new six-song e.p. on Paradise Records. It comes packaged in a nice looking 7-pannel cassette-tape. I remember reading this review in Razorcake of thier first tape that asked something to the extent like, has this tape been lost in the mail since 1992? I thought it was really funny, and super on point. But, these songs are much better recorded and produced. Although they're still clearly influenced by 1990's altnerative rock, it seems that they're beginning to find their own sound a little bit. Like the album art, the music sounds like a stoned summer afternoon hanging out with your friends by the pool. It sounds like being old enough to have responsibilities, but at an age where it's still to easy enough to dismiss them. The first two songs "Trampoline" and "Carmolita" are super poppy, but then they take it down a notch with "Shamrock." I think overall the pacing of this little e.p. was really well done. It's easy to get lost in these songs. There's nothing super technical going on, but they have their sound and their tone down perfectly. I'm really impressed by the growth of this band, and look forward to the long-player.
