fourTothree is a trio based in Franklin Square, NY. Several tracks from their new CD are featured on their myspace page. First up, "So You Cry," highlights the emotional edge to singer/bassist Matt Ruggiero’s voice, as well as nice acoustic guitar strumming by Greg Patane. Solid drumming by Rob Hendrick, ever-present in all the band’s tracks, drive the song hard and give it a nice aggressive edge.
"What You Did to Me" starts like a shot right from the gate, with an energy that never lets up. Great drumming, interesting rhythmic shifts and catchy lyrics make this track as good as any current rock radio hit.
"Don’t Hate Me" has a nice tremolo guitar intro, which gives the song a bit of a 90s feel and makes it sound different than other tracks. The 90s vibe continues through the song, bringing to mind bands like Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
Other strong tracks are "Green Light Story" and "Tumbling Down", which feature vocal harmony, clean lead vocals, and a solid rhythm section.
My teenage daughter, who is all about pop/emo/punk gave her thumbs-up to each of the songs featured on the band’s myspace - with "Tumbling Down" being her clear cut winner ("I like everything in this song!"). She likened Ruggiero’s voice to Patrick from Fall Out Boy in "So You Cry". For "Green Light Story" she felt the band had a sound similar to that band also, but actually were a lot better than Fall Out Boy. And "Don’t Hate Me" brought to her mind the work of Sum 41.
fourTothree does just about everything right in their new songs. Visit their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/fourtothree.
