I am always nervous when bands come out with new CDs because I do not want the love I have for their older CDs to be completely ruined! Before I got “Every Second Counts”, I was listening to their previous CD, “All That We Needed” at least once a day and it had a permanent placement in my car as “Disc 1”. A billion questions filled my head as I opened the package with the CD in it. What if they decided to go more “hard core”, would that work for them? What if they wanted to generate more of a “pop” feel and devastated their lyrics with it? What if I do not even recognize them anymore?! Ah! I was completely panicked. Of course I had already heard the first single off the album, “Hate(I Really Don’t Like You)”, thanks to Musiqtone’s first listen, and loved it, but how many times do you buy a CD because you loved a song you heard on the radio and the rest of the CD turns out to be complete crap? Well guess what? That’s not the case!

“Every Second Counts” is filled with 12 brand new songs, all written or co-written by lead singer, Tom Higgenson. The album starts off with an upbeat love song, “Our Time Now” and transitions into their new single “Hate(I Really Don’t Like You),” which is catchy with a nice balance of pop/rock. Personally I think it’s a guaranteed hit, but we shall see. “You and Me”, probably one of my favorites on the album, is a really fun, edgy love song. “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drunk Dial” is such an easy song to relate with. With lyrics like “You only wanna hang out when you got nothing to do”, who would not be able to relate? “Making a Memory” is my “Hey There Delilah” on this album. It’s the cute love song that you wish someone had written about you! As much as I want to say I love every single song 100%, “Write You A Song” seems like a sad attempt at a “Hey There Delilah Part 2”. It’s not a horrible song, but it seems like it was already said. Maybe it is just a personal preference but I do not like when songs are about writing songs. Was it just me or did Natasha Bedingfield have two singles about writing songs? Can she actually write songs, or just knows the process and did not have any material? The CD finishes with “Let Me Take You There”, another adorable love song.

I think there are quite a few hits in the first half of the album, but as it continued on they began to loose me slightly during my first listen. Of course, I am totally guilty of pausing the CD to go do something, coming back and restarting it, so it took me quite a few listens before I made it all the way to the end, that is why when I finally got a chance to do a straight run through I was already very familiar with the first half. Overall out of 10, I would give the album an 8.5. If you liked their sophomore album, “All That We Needed”, I can almost guarantee that you will love this one. “Evey Second Counts” shows the growth and development of their music, without loosing their original sound.


Erica Hahn is the chief head of indie music at Musiqtone. You can reach her at ericahahn@musiqtone.com.










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