End of a Year - Sincerely

[Revelation Records]

To paraphrase an overused hip-hop saying, End of a Year is your favorite Albany band's favorite Albany band***. They've managed to get on a solid label without doing everything you're told you need to do on the way there. They never really played the bigtime promoter shows and their local fanbase was modest at best, relegated to fellow record nerds and music geeks, just like the band themselves. Instead, they got where they are the old fashioned way. By being awesome.

End of a Year's last full length review is literally five posts down from here ,so if you're not familiar with them and want to know what they sound like, that should sum it up. In a nutshell, they do this D.C/Embrace/Fugazi worship thing that works really well for them. Hell, the band not only wears their influences on their sleeves, they also include listening recommendations in their liner notes.

'Sincerely' is definitely not a dissapointment. It basically continues right where the first full length left off. Not much has changed since then, and that's a good thing. Pat's still writing perfect lyrics to capture the emotional problems of grown ass men (and women) and the rest of the band is still making interesting music without veering off from their original template.

If you're just discovering End of a Year, and if you're not from the Albany area, there's a good chance you are, pick this up AND their last LP, "Disappear Here". They are equally as good and there's no reason you shouldn't own one and not the other. For me personally, this is an essential record, and that right there should make you run out RIGHT NOW and buy it.

***To be fair, everyone in Albany hates each other and has chips on their shoulders, so that phrase only works if you said my band was your favorite Albany band.

End of a Year on Myspace