Making Days - One Foot Follows - Album Review - Progressive Jazz Rock from New York City, USA
Today, I am writing about the promising prog/jazz/math-rock band Making Days from New York City, USA, and their debut album “One Foot Follows,” released in 2022.
Making Days, Excavator (Official Audio)
"Mike Kudrenetsky - Lead GuitarOmar Ramirez - VocalsSean Conran - KeysDrew Suter - Bass GuitarAndy Marine - DrumsBrian Beanland - Rhythm Guitar
Produced/Mixed by Brendan Williams
Mastered by Mike Kalajian"
I was introduced to Making Days about a year ago with one of the singles from this album, “Excavator,” a song that some of you might remember if you ever listened to “The Next Big Thing in Rock” playlist on Spotify. That song made me imagine a band with advanced musicianship, great sound craftsmanship, shoegaze focus with established and stylish sound. The moment I listened to further what they have to offer in “One Foot Follows,” the album showed me that they aren't just another shoegaze band but much more than that.
The album stands out with its sound work, musicianship, and a wide range of musical influences in its foundation that includes shoegaze, jazz, alternative, indie, prog, and math rock. All songs are quite progressive in their structure and instrumentation and maintain the potential of catching the listener by surprise from start to finish.
On the instrumental side, it isn’t hard to assume that they are advanced musicians. The music they play requires knowledge and skills, and performances are one of the highlights of the album for me.
Moreover, Making Days has different tastes and climates in their music that some of them might speak to you directly compared to others. My favorite, “Excavator,” has great qualities as a shoegaze song that I mentioned earlier, and I unconsciously wanted it to stay that way. “Violent Jazz,” on the other hand, showcases their edge of complexity with math and jazz-rock focus, reminding me of Paul Gilbert when imagined as instrumental.
Lastly, the producer of the “One Foot Follows” album deserves credit for the outcome. The sound work gave this album an impressive costume, precisely built the entire picture depending on the individuals, showing great vision with its characterization, and also achieved to adapt all the climate changes in the musicality while maintaining the album concept. Simply fantastic.
Making Days, band photo Credit: Unknown
On the other hand, I also have a few things that I believe can play for Making Days’ advantage in the future. First of all, I think the band still has so much room to improve, and I’d suggest working on their musical character by simplifying it. Objectively, “One Foot Follows” does not have any weaknesses, but one can also argue about its collective character for it also sounds similar to other math-rock bands.
Secondly, it is not pleasant to see that there is no singular filmed material in their YouTube library as an appreciator of their music, of course. In this way, the band draws an introverted image, which you can also confirm once you check out their social feed.
Making Days, band photo Credit: Unknown
In conclusion, “One Foot Follows” has great music to offer for those who are into jazz, math, prog, and alternative rock with stylish sound design and advanced musicianship. It is a great listen and strongly recommended. Thank you for your time.
Making Days, One Foot Follows (2022) Album Front Cover Artwork Artwork Credit: Sabrina Gregorowicz
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