Artist: Colonel Rhodes
Album: This Is Public
Label: The Record Machine
Tracks: 5
Review By: Jacob Gehman

In baseball there always seems to be a player who is just never used quite right. For instance, maybe his change-up makes left handed hitter’s knees buckle, but the manager keeps bringing him in to face right handed batters. Or maybe he is a pinch hitter who is good at getting a single, but the manager puts him up at bat down by a run with nobody on base in the ninth inning. As a result these players are undervalued because their lack of production is interpreted as a player’s weakness, without taking into account the situation. Colonel Rhodes suffers from that ailment, only instead of baseball its music.

Their underappreciated, misused piece is Elizabeth Holt, one of the band’s vocalists. Her voice is great, even amazing, and manages to be powerful without being strained or pushed too hard. The other vocalist is Seth Hubbard, who has a decent voice in his own right. However, there nothing displayed on this EP that would imply that he is a better or more interesting singer than Elizabeth Holt. So it is rather baffling that there is no point on this EP where Holt’s voice can just step into the spotlight and truly capture the listener. For the majority of the cd Holt and Hubbard sing together, with the focus mainly on Hubbard. The parts where the song requires a solo, Hubbard is the one who sings it. As stated before, Hubbard is a very capable singer. However, when you have a classically trained vocalist, you need to use her appropriately.

Other than that painful oversight, “This Is Public” is flawless. Each of the five songs takes the listener into Colonel Rhodes’ world. When the EP ends the listener wants nothing more than it to continue. The style would probably fall under alternative country, but more in a Mekons way than Wilco. Thankfully, the vocals mostly avoid the country drawl that is such a turn-off. The backing music is delightfully energetic, putting to rest the notion that country-influenced music has to be drawn out and weepy.