“The Only Way to Kill You” is the debut EP from Grey Lag. This band hails from Portland, OR and they are set to perform at SXSW in Austin, TX this week. They have a unique and interesting folk rock sound. This band has been through a lot in their lives and they express it all emotionally in their music.

This CD was full of interestingly odd lyrics, out of place vocals, and good instrumentals. The song lyrics were very unique and you can feel the emotions this band is trying to convey, but the actual song content did not make a lot of sense to me. I do appreciate that Greylag was being different and unique with their lyrics, but they overdid it and were a bit too abstract to connect with the general audience. As for the vocals, they were too high pitched on some songs (“Black Crow”) and too soft on other songs (“Outgrown” and “Speaking Voice”). However, they did get it just right on “Tiger” and the vocals were soothing and fit perfectly into the song.

The instrumentals ranged from a scary folk rock feel on “Into the Woods” to a more laid back sound like on “Tiger.” Regardless, the instrumentals were really impressive and did a lot for this album. All the songs on the EP were okay, but not one song stood out for me or were memorable enough to mention. “Tiger” came the closest to being my favorite song on the EP, but it still was not as good as I had expected. Greylag is obviously talented, but they still need some fine tuning to become a better band. For those reason, I am giving “The Only Way to Kill You” a “D.”