I The Mighty and 'Connector' Beg For Grander Prog-Rock Sound

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of. This week we look at 'Connector,' the second album from alt-rockers I The Mighty.

Week of 06/12/2015
WHO: I The Mighty
WHAT: Connector
SPOT: 187

I The Mighty draws immediate comparisons to Coheed and Cambria...largely because of its self-professed adoration of the New York progressive rock band. Aside from that...well...it's a little overblown. Connector, the second LP from the Coheed wannabes on the opposite coast, would do well to borrow a bit more influence from its icons.

Producer Mike Green has made a name for himself thanks to his work with Paramore, All Time Low and Pierce The Veil, and although we get the idea from band bios that I The Mighty perceives itself more in line with the latter of those acts, tracks such as "The Lying Eyes of Miss Erray" (itself a reference to Coheed) pack more emotive, relationship-ending angst than creative songwriting. "The Hound And The Fox" comes up well short of dystopian narrative, stooping at clichéd complaints about big business (maybe it could borrow some grander ideas from Muse, at least an aesthetic influence based on album art and typefaces).

Just when Connector is about to draw to a sad close, suddenly there's an upsurge in interest. "The Frame I: Betrayal in the Watchtower" lays out a vague, sci-fi narrative in just more than five minutes, and it brings the most interesting songwriting and instrumentation with it. Frontman Brent Walsh finally breaks and drops an eff-bomb, if that's any indication about the newfound excitement.

We admit, that last number was enough to make us consider revisiting the band's next release, to see if a more ambitious plan takes off. I The Mighty is better off leaving more mundane subject matter to more earthbound bands.

Tags

Coheed and Cambria, Paramore, All Time Low, Muse