Heartbreak Radio
On Air

Is this a new radio station we have on air? One might think it is a poster for such a thing but it isn’t because behind the dreary cover hides a group of swedes in a band (or a project) that started as a spinoff project from a band called Last Autumn’s Dream and it is their second album following a debut that was released by essentially another band back in 2005. The idea is to make a salute to the 70s westcoast/AOR heroes like Journey or Toto to name two, that sounds like a thing but when you think a bit more it is sort a daunting considering how much such music we already have out there in the world and at least three albums having an AOR-labels that I now have reviewed will be released only on february 22 and one of them is amazing, unfortunately this isn’t the amazing one. Still, it could be good even if it isn’t amazing but as I alluded to, it can be hard to really stand out in a genre that has already five hundred billion albums to chose from.

This is on the softer side of the scale with mostly midtempo songs that doesn’t really show much in terms of heaviness or energy. This is also being more illustrated by the very polished production and sound of this album which makes it seem even less energetic than it is, at least when looking at it at first. The songs are of the common variation with mostly midtempo songs, some ballady stuff is also there and a more energetic song as well, nothing that should surprise anyone into this kind of music but I suppose you already knew what to expect when looking at the names of who are involved with this project. I would call this On Air album a well made production that shows the competence of all involved, there is nothing to complain about at the production side other than perhaps the lack of diversity along the singers that appear on the album because I never really noticed that there were different singer until I read it in the press information. That is the thing that one might complain about but if it is down to selecting too similar singers or the production I will leave for others to decide.

I think this album has a bigger problem than the lack of diversity though, the songs are generally too slow and too soft and never really take off making the album feel rather insignificant. It feels more like music to have in the background like in a waiting room or on an elevator than something someone would want to listen to, there is no energy in the songs making this a well produced collection of swedish mentality (which means something completely neutral and inoffensive, just like Sweden as a nation). The songs are not bad and the album is not really bad at all, it is just that it never really takes off and in the end I find myself thinking of other things like what to write about the Tribal album or any other album which I am close to reviewing right now. There is however one time where it fires on more than half the cylinders and that is the eighth track called My Heart's Just Missing You which is a catchy and good little thing that alone raises the quality of this album to something acceptable rather than something to immediately discard.

In the end I think that we can conclude that On Air is a decent album, it is bland and lacks energy most of the time but it still makes for an acceptable thing to listen to even if it is better as background music than something you actually listen to. If you like overpolished inoffensive and unimaginative soft rock you might find this album quite good, I think it is quite alright but not something I would chose to listen to.

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