It’s no surprise that I Nine’s debut EP rocks so hard. Yours would too, if you grew up in a town of less than 20,000 people. Now based in Atlanta, the band formed in the tiny town of Orangeburg, SC. Having grown up in a tiny town myself, I instantly felt connected to the level of emotion and desperation driving the serious rocking out that characterizes The EP.
While the driving force behind this band is undoubtedly the vocals, it’s the cello that surprises so many of the arrangements. Many rock bands have been adding cellists to their line-ups in hopes of stretching in new directions, and the result too often sounds contrived. Here, the cellist, Bryan Gibson, also happens to be the band’s chief guitarist. He approaches the instrument in much the same way as his guitar: mostly for rhythm and ornamentation, rather than trying to be the band’s backbone. On “Change Nothing,” the cello seems to be there for no reason other than to increase the song’s stature as the emotion builds. Indeed, sometimes another instrumental layer has to be added in order to not leave singer Carmen Kreigan’s huge, heavy vocals hanging.
Though I Nine could rather comfortably occupy that area of contemporary pop where women with big, powerful voices choose to sing scathing heartbreak rock songs (think Kelly Clarkson’s My December, Pink’s more recent albums, or anything by Avril Lavigne), Keigans’ high-powered vocals are often backed by much more ambitious instrumental arrangements (“Beckon”). The result is a style spectrum ranging from contemporary country to punk to southern rock–often within one song. It’s only a shame a longer effort isn’t yet available.
