Over the past year, Detroit singer/guitarist Alex Winston has shared stages with the likes of The Wreckers, Kate Voegele, Miranda Lambert, and the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. Her debut 6-song EP falls somewhere in the spaces between all those artists. The syntactically-challenged “Misunderestimate Me” is funky and danceable pop, “Waiting Game” leads with a riff sounding straight off Van Halen’s 1984 (think “Hot for Teacher”), and “Hello” kicks out the jams with muddy, stoner rock strut and a blistering guitar solo. The songs are immediately engaging, up-tempo, and possessing of enough rock and roll diversity to keep things interesting. The difficulty, however, is reconciling the meatier arrangements with Winston’s melodic, Top 40-ready vocals. These songs are strong. If only Winston would let out a snarling growl once and while to accompany them.
--Frank Valish [March 29, 2008]
