Emerging from the town of Temple, Texas comes a new alternative rock outfit known as FlyLeaf. While this band is a female-fronted group with all guys doing the instrumentation, they fail to be compared to just any big name band in today's music world. Lead singer Lacey Mosley quotes, "our music is passionate and on purpose. It's about our experiences and passions and how we have overcome them." Perhaps a more notable aspect is to consider the fact that this album has the producing talents of Rick Parasher (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Default, 3 Doors Down), as well as the tracks being mixed by Kevin Shirley (The Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Silverchair, Our Lady Peace).

Signing with Octone Records (label home of Maroon 5) last summer, FlyLeaf has released an EP that screams for attention in both the Christian and mainstream markets. With grinding guitar riffs and gutsy vocals, this album shows definite potential. The album opens with "Red Sam," a heavy guitar-laden track with soothing but strong vocals from Mosley. The next track, "Breathe Today," boasts that "only one thing big enough to fill the void that's inside of you." Although it's not blatantly clear that that one thing is God, hopefully most listeners will grasp the fact that they are referring to God. "I'm Sorry" brings forth a moderately punk flavoring which is slightly different from the first two songs preceding it. Finishing out this rather short project is the song "Cassie," in which Mosley presents the lyric, "I will say yes," finishing out the inspiring phrase with a drawn-out yell followed by a gut-wrenching guitar lead in. This particular song encourages believers to take a stand for God and be unashamed of Him in the vein of slain Columbine student Cassie Bernall.

Flyleaf's debut EP is so amazing that I was surprised that the album ended after only 4 tracks, which left me wanting to hear more from this up and coming band. Nevertheless, Flyleaf may be one of the most talked about indie bands this year. Hopefully they will be poised to release a full-length project in the near future.

- Review date: 2/1/05, written by Paul Portell