The beginning of the entire Visitor album starts out with an almost cliché feedback intro, but it doesn’t feel tacky in the context of the song. The feedback sound reappears throughout the rest it in appropriate parts as it builds up emotionally. I wouldn’t have picked a different song to start out with, though; it’s a great example of what you’ll be hearing in the rest of the album. “Bitte Ein Kuss” picks things up a bit, and introduces the drum machine, known as Are Too for aesthetic reasons. “But It Was Close” has similar instrumentation to the opening track, but with a piano coming in near the end to help build up the ending.

“Smile” almost stands out too much on this album. It’s a great song, but it’s the only blatantly “happy” song on the album. It’s the only thing that notably breaks up the flow of the entire album, but if you have to do that on an album, this is how it’s done. Are Too comes back for drum machine duty on “Perfect Pair” as well, and is accompanied by an interesting lo-fi acoustic guitar track. “Candle Song” is another acoustic track like “But It Was Close” or “Why Are We Fighting”; one of the less notable songs on the album, but not a track to skip.

“Yr Letter” appears to be a fan favorite, and possibly the emotionally strongest song on the album. It’s also one of the few songs on this album that sounds better live (There’s quite a powerful rendition on Jonah’s CD/DVD There’s A Lot In Here), but the studio version isn’t lacking much. “Visitor” is the only track I don’t like much on the album; it’s short, and there are noises in the background that aren’t particularly musical, though they aren’t too distracting. The lyrics are interesting, but short enough to make you wonder if it was added for the sake of a longer track list.

Next comes my personal favorite song from the album, “Softbelly”, which has the most appealing chilled-out guitar playing on the album. The final track, “Sixes”, isn’t too far behind in that category, either. The outtro to this song would have made a great ending to just about any album, but it finishes this album particularly well, like you have reached the end of a journey, and if you listened to Visitor from start to finish, you have.

The Midway State, like many bands before them, released an EP with a sampling of what to expect from their upcoming album. Met A Man On Top Of The Hill is their first official studio produced release, offering that glimpse into their music. There are four songs on the EP, and the title track would be the only song on that EP to not be released later on their 2008 album Holes. The song “A Million Fireflies” would undergo a title change when released on the album.

The songs on both the EP and the album are a refreshing new take on popular piano rock. The lyrics from the EP’s four songs are emotional, and each song has a different theme. While their peer bands are singing songs about how their relationship ended, The Midway State tackles the less approached route: Nathan Ferraro, the band’s lead vocalist and piano player, sings about being with someone at their potential death bed, or chancing upon someone that just happens to know how to help him, or the character he represents in the song. The vocals are not what you’d typically get from a rock band, but they compliment the sound and lyrical content quite well.

They have done quite well with their lyrical content, but Met A Man On Top Of The Hill’s tracks have exceptional instrumental sections with varying emphasis on certain instruments, depending on the feel of the given song. The variety of playing styles the band used is sure to keep you listening for a long time, and it prevents the EP from being something that you’ll delete from your computer in a month.

Although most of the Met A Man On Top Of The Hill EP ended up on Holes, the song set works well as a whole, and the title track isn’t like anything that ended up on Holes. Definitely something that both fans of pop and indie label music could appreciate.