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When Caity digitally handed me two albums for review I wasn't sure what was contained inside. "They're local guys." she said with all the knowing-ness that comes with doing this for years, and none of the connotation that you'd expect. The first file I opened was Persona Experience, the scanned cover of the DIY CD that was given to us calls the album "Folk 'n' Rock", but when I opened the .zip to give the songs a listen they were simply named "Track 01-09", thinking Caity must have made a mistake I asked her for the track names to which she just shrugged and said "I don't have 'em. They're not on the album art, and they're not coming up with the CD itself, sorry bro!". So forgive me when reviewing this album if I don't use song titles, and Persona Experience if you're reading this, next time you give your album out to someone, give 'em some song titles to go with it!

A quick Google and Facebook search for Persona Experience turned up one Facebook Page, from which I learned that the band is from Bangor, Maine, are heavily influenced by Pink Floyd and the members of the band are Chris Berry (Lead Guitar), Travis Jandreau (Lead Vox/Guitar), Jake Colda (Bass), Travis Maison (Drums), and William Kettle (Keyboards). That is all of the information I have, kids, looks like we're taking this adventure blindly together!

All right, let's jump off this platform together and swan-dive right into this album, shall we?

Track 01 is not great. It's full of loops that seem like they were done by someone who had to Google how to do it, the vocals seem timid, he's got a good enough voice, but a little confidence and strength behind it would go a long way. The awkward guitar solo in the middle really wraps up in a nutshell the awkward nature of this song.

Track 02 shows us that the guitar player is capable of playing his instrument, and that someone in the band has knowledge of how to write cliche and bland Blues lines. The classic blues lines can be utilized in an astounding and powerful way if you know how to do it, but if you don't really know how to do it, and have the vocals and lyrics to back it up, it's just going to come across as a bunch of (my guess is) high school kids trying to show us that they are a "cultured" band. More awkward guitar solo.

Okay, hold up. Is William Kettle (Keyboards) a real person, or is that what you named your free copy of frooty-loops? Ok, that was mean, I'm sorry. Guys, track 03 is seriously weird. The song sounds very much like a sincere attempt at Scandinavian Rock, but with only the cliche parts and with little to no understanding of what Scandinavian Rock is. I'd like to point out, also, that this song is ten minutes and thirty-seven seconds long. So far I have listen to two minutes and fourteen seconds and am very much evaluating my choices in the past few hours that have led me to this moment. William Kettle, I take back that snarky thing I said before. The more I listen to this track (we're at the halfway point right now!) the more I realize that you're actually my favorite band member (although really, though, you MIGHT still be a robot, like your drummer brethren. Yeah, I'm looking at you digi-drummer Travis Maison). Hey good news, listeners! There is actually music to support the guitar solo in this one! Much less awkward. I think the second half of this song is where they try to show us how influenced by Pink Floyd they are. I get it, boys... I'm catching your Shine On You Crazy Diamond vibe here. Next time may I suggest Wish you Were Here? I don't want to be mean to you boys, I'm sure you guys have a kickin' local following, but this song could have ended like six minutes ago and I would have given it a relatively favorable review, but this whole "dragging it on and on and on and ooooon" thing was a terrible plan, and the more it plays, the more I want to quit my job here at The Sound Faction.

Oh THERE'S the Folk! Hiding in Track 04 behind a bunch of band members who have never played Folk music before! This is the point in time where I tell you guys at home reading this that Folk Music is my favorite genre, and I get very snooty and Mr. Judgy-Pants about bands who call something "Folk". So I'm just going to go ahead and not be a raving hipster to you about this, instead I'm just going to say that I would rather suffer through the masterpierce that was Track 03 than the two and a half minutes of Track 04.

I'm sorry, I got distracted by a cat dying in my backyard while track 05 was playing and I missed it. I could go back and listen to it again, but I'm mildly afraid that the cat is fine, and that it was simply Track 05 that made that shrieking sound.

We've made it through five of nine tracks, all of which have not been very good, so allow this point in the review to be your mercy-ruling. More than half of the record is awful, and unless you have a morbid curiosity (or maybe you've just heard this before and know what I'm talking about) you can stop reading right here, because my best guess is that it's not going to get better in the four tracks to come. For those of you who just have to know, read on!

Track 06 is probably the best one instrumentally so far, but lyrically and vocally the worst yet. I'm not sure if the vocal stylings of Travis Jandreau are on purpose or not, but I don't really get it. He has a good enough voice (a little nasally, but not awful!) but the breath support is not there, which drops him flat a good amount of the time, and he inexplicably drops his volume down at random words for what seems like no reason at all. They are, however, getting better at keeping some instrumentation under the guitar solos which makes them much less awkward. They're still pretty cliche/terrible solos, though.

Track 07 is just another one in the pile, it's not the worst one, but it's certainly not very good. I guess my advice to the band for this track would be to invest in a tuner or some sort?

Track 08 starts off with two solid minutes of exactly how I feel about listening to the rest of this album. Grumbling, moaning, and a steady death-march playing in the background. The other three minutes of the song are whiny and awful.

Oh my god, we have made it to the last track! There are only five minutes and fifteen seconds standing between us and freedom! Once more into the fray, comrades! Oh hey! An acoustic guitar! This is nice! I don't know who is playing this, but keep it up! The vocals aren't the worst they've been, and the guitar is actually pleasant to listen to!

We did it, guys! We made it through and entire 41:41 of Persona Experience, and what an experience it was, no? Judge Tony is going to go ahead and sentence Persona Experience to 6 months of vocal lessons, tuned guitars and songwriting classes, and highly recommends that you simply take Track 09, make it a single, and throw the rest of the tracks in the garbage.

See ya next time!

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