Hello Kelly (by Hello Kelly)

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Artist: Hello Kelly
Album: Hello Kelly (Self-titled)
Label: 7 Spin
Released: : April 15, 2008

Review

It wasn’t too long ago since we first heard of Hello Kelly. It all began in the summer of 2004 when the band released their first EP, “Modern Day Nostalgia”. But it was just later in 2005 when the band started to get noticed with the release of “The Modern Day Fades Away”, which had two new songs, and a bright purple cover. From there on things started to come into place, they began touring in the US and next you know they had signed with 7 Spin (home of Inhabited, Seven Glory, and Red Umbrella). Of course the years went by fast, but the road was long. After working hard for two full years the band released another EP in 2007, called “Green Things Grow”. The EP name was catchy, the cover was just as green as the other one was purple, but it only had 3 songs. It was somewhat disappointing to wait for so long to get 3 new songs. Thankfully the band persisted, and in April 2008, Hello Kelly released their first, self titled, full length album.

Hello Kelly features 9 new songs, plus 4 songs from past EPs (“Favorite Arcade”, “No Time For Tears”, “Paper Bag Princess”, and “My Girlfriend “). The album starts off with the upbeat song “10 Good Reasons” and follows with a nice balance of power pop/rock songs, and slow paced songs. Even though, altogether, the band has matured over the years, the vocals are still a bit winy around high notes. The music itself has not changed much from previous efforts, but the album mixing gives new life to the record. Songs like “My Girlfriend” and “Favorite Acarde” sound much better this time around. Other songs that standout are “Disappearing” which replaces “The Perfect Place” (unfortunately, didn’t make the cut). “Simple Love Song” and “The Right Thing” are bound to be playing in your head for hours after the stereo is off.

The lyrics are simple, not hard to follow. The message is straight forward varying between boy/girl type of songs, and deeper songs with some spiritual content. The content is 100% positive and encouraging. In fact, that’s exactly what has kept the band on the road for all these years, “encouragement”. The band is passionate about their listeners. If you’ve had the chance to see them in concert you will know that they play just as hard for 50 people as they’d have if the avenue was packed.

Hello Kelly is proof that hard work pays off. They’ve come a long way, and if they continue on this pace they won’t be stopping anytime soon. Fans of bands such as Hawk Nelson, and Eleventy Seven won’t be disappointed with this release.

*Hello Kelly (by Hello Kelly) was added on January 5th, 2010

Reviewed by Dan
Daniel is a music lover, a designer and web developer. He current resides in Philly, but he is always on the move.