Hearts of Palm
Idaho
Idaho Music

Idaho the state can be summarized as America’s premier source for potatoes. Idaho the band is almost just as interesting.

With low-key guitar numbers and attempts at artiness, this duo seeks a place among pop songwriters of the underground variety, though its cool-as-ice approach to its music makes Heats of Palm a little too chilly to be easily swallowed.

Though Idaho’s change from the avalanche of trashy rock’n’roll acts and super sensitive emo bands is a much-needed reprise from predictability, there’s not much in the way of songwriting to sustain its break from the pack. Neither overly arty, too creative, very abrasive nor particularly striking in any sense whatsoever, Idaho easily falls between the cracks in an already over-saturated musical world. In a time when nearly every act has a gimmick, a twist or some flash in hope of making it stand out, Idaho’s no-frills rock isn’t enough to earn it much attention at all.

It certainly doesn’t help that Idaho’s fare isn’t all that hot to begin with. Though the duo’s arrangements aren’t too shabby—"To Be the One," features somewhat engrossing keyboard melodies while the lolling, slightly distorted guitars in "Alta Dena" strike a rare warm tone—there isn’t enough of anything on this album. Whether it aims for the sensitivity of a singer/songwriter or the flashiness of pop, Idaho needs to pump up its efforts. Splitting the difference between art and pop isn’t going to win the band many fans, especially when singer Jeff Martin’s voice is thrown over the top of them. Crooning with a voice only Eddie Vedder’s mother could love, Martin’s tortured vocal tracks don’t do his music any favors.

It’s too bad this album has so many holes in it, as if there’s only one thing clear in the music, it’s that Idaho is doing exactly what it wants to do. It’s not chasing down a style in hopes of hitting the musical lotto and becoming the next big thing. It’s not out to prove its credibility or affiliation in any scene. Idaho is just Idaho, which, if nothing else, is a ray of light in an otherwise drab Hearts of Palm.

- Matt Schild

this review is/was available on www.aversion.com
and is available here for archival purposes