Flashbulb Fires’ first full length album, Glory, puts the band’s propensity for weaving richly textured tunes with thoughtful writing on full display. With plenty of piano and horns speckled throughout the album, it is a cohesive album that pleases all the way through.

But it only pleases, it doesn’t wow. It is an album that very easily becomes background music and, while sometimes reaching out grabbing the listener, doesn’t succeed in keeping his attention.

Instrumentally, the album’s opener, “Pyramid Scheme,” sounds like something from Sufjan Stevens, which is a plus. The horn interlude in the middle of the song is a beautiful transition that sets the tone for the style and ambience throughout the rest of the album.

Patrick McGuire, lead vocalist and chief song writer, suggests that we do not always fit in, even in the structures which we create.

“Let’s start a pyramid scheme / We can do it underneath your sheets / But I’m not what you need, and you know it / And you know it.”

He might be referring to his struggles with religion to which the band’s website alludes. That struggle makes for good lyrics, but the lyrics aren’t enough to carry this album alone.

It always feels like it needs a little more edge or a little more punch to everything. Glory easily fades into background music and loses touch with the listener. It is hard to put a finger on, but there just seems to be a little something missing.

With that being said however, it is a good album, the musicianship is superb and the composition is top notch, but without the constant connection and the reach-out-and-grab-you effect that is vital to any great album, Glory falls a little short of that lofty category. It is a fine addition to any collection, but it won’t likely play over and over and over like the truly great albums do.

–Michael Hall, September 20, 2010