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A City Heart's EP "If You Ever Had a Chance, Then it Was Now" is a soothing blend of Dntel-inspired synthetic sounds and natural vocals. Though vocalist Dustin Kniffen, can sometimes be a bit of a drone, he's never obnoxious or whiney. Kris Keyser, the instrumentation and programmer of the band, is a senior here at Drew University and has made lethargic, fun, electronic sounds. "Don't be a Stranger" starts out the EP with static vibrations and confused and incoherent voices resembling a throbbing heart of a city. "...And Now It's My Story" ends the EP like it started with the same languid and dreamy sounds that is disassociated with the music it was set behind. "Explosions," the second track, blends together with the song before and is just as dreamy. It's a slow song and slightly repetitive, but the influences from Dntel and The Postal Service show the most in the musical segment in this song, making lovers of those bands swoon while listening to this track or cringe at a band following a trend. "Thought Patterns" has a great beginning with a simplistic, but sweetly playing piano. However, the rest of the song is much too drowsy and slow for my taste and for others who like fast paced melodies. Speaking of fast-paced, my favorite song on this EP is definitely "Maybe, It's Vanity." It's upbeat tempo and static clicks and reminiscent of playing old school game boy. Lines such as "So what would you say to me if / We were along / Hand in hand /And those stupid words fell off my tongue again" have an honest tone. I had this song stuck in my head for days after listening to it. My only complaint was that A City Heart needs more songs like this one. Weird and odd can be used to describe "Decorate the Sky." This song of co-dependence has bittersweet lyrics that have both signs of arrogance and love behind them. "I'll decorate the sky with your name / If you'll just let me know / You need me." The contradicting sounds within the music and vocals make it a definite favorite and an interesting listen. Maybe A City Heart has forgot to put on their Myspace that they are a fan of David Firth's brain-child, Locust Toybox, because the video game-like melody mirrors the mixing style of Locust Toybox's "Hyper Darts Challenge." With a cohesive and well mixed EP, A City Heart is a band worth poking around and lending an ear to. It's odd, but way too good to turn down for less than six bucks on iTunes.

A City Heart’s debut EP If You Ever Had a Chance, Then It Was Now passes through the hearing valves like a snifter of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, having the drink’s intoxicating cherry brandy flavoring coating the pearlescent electro pop tiles and the gliding texture of sparkling water, which enable the songs to go in easy. A City Heart is the side project of Kris Keyser (programming, instrumentation, and backup vocals) and Dustin Kniffen (lead vocals and vocal programming). Produced by Keyser and Kniffen, the album has a seraphim quality in the electro pop ethos resembling the synth-glaciers of new wave artists like The Human League and Information Society solidified with contemporary sounding melodies liken to modern day ambient pop artists like Lost Ocean and Shapes Stars Make. It’s a new age for electro pop artists, who have found a new level of serenity in synth-pop camphors, making the album a place that respects peace, something like a temple in Tibet. Though the songs create melodic towers with electro pop shields, they still feel accessible to the listener. The soft electro pop cilia’s of “Explosions” are framed by gently looping strings while the synth pop typing of “Don’t Be a Stranger” has digital clicks that dunk and surge varying the radiance of the notes. The tapping beats of “Maybe It’s Varity” are layered by bricks of digital passages and vibrating synths with beacons of futuristic effects. I know that’s an odd description, but it is one way to express A City Heart’s music, which works with notes as if they are lights whose luster is manipulated to form melodic lines. The electro sounding glazes of “And Now It’s My Story” glitter like a piece of quartz in the sun, and its sweetly pitched wrappings through ”Decorate the Sky” wave blissfully like a leaf caught in a warm breeze. The emotive registers of Kniffen’s vocals in “Thought Patterns” are akin to Secondhand Serenade’s John Vesely, although Kniffen’s lyrics are more profound as he rings out, “You were always so careful with your words / Watching you now / It’s like we were lost in the silence / Between the touch of sound and body / To sing our song like it was our first.” The lyrics have elements of sentimentality and symbolism uniquely relating to each other. A City Heart document The Postal Service and Sigur Ros as some of their musical influences, although these influences are faint in the duo’s music. Keyser and Kniffen seem more inspired by their musical influences than actually trying to copy them in their EP If You Ever Had a Chance, Then It Was Now. The duo’s music is aurally pleasing, similarly to the way a cocktail of A Midsummer Night’s Dream can consume one's blood vessels. The album has ambient lifts that renew new wave's synth-driven melodies while giving them a contemporary finish.

Dan Bindschedler If you had been reading the L&A section of the Drew University Acorn last year, you might have noticed a bit of hub-bub revolving around a small electronic-indie-rock band called A City Heart. Their lyrics, not surprisingly, are swift and heart-felt; their sound is brisk, bright and compelling – like the rush you get walking down Broadway on your way to SoHo. One song from the EP, entitled “Maybe it’s Vanity” displays a solid core of direction from the band’s two major influences: Mute Math, and indie rock classics, The Postal Service. A City Heart’s passion for metropolis motifs is authentic; Dustin Kniffen hails from Iowa City, preparing to graduate from the University of Iowa in May, and Kris Keyser, a Drew Alum (CLA ’08) currently lives in Chatham, NJ and makes the big apple his Stomping Grounds. Last year, the Acorn covered their first few, and hopefully not last, bouts of acclaim when they rocked through several elimination rounds on MTVU’s “Best Band on Campus” Since then, the duo has received interest from several other organizations including Absolutepunk.net, a social networking site for independent bands. In a recent interview, ACH brought me up to speed with their progress and goals for the future. Dustin, while touring the bar circuit in Iowa City with his side project, “Ely Falls,” is working on a double major in English and Journalism. Kris is working at Novartis Pharmaceuticals during the day, and immersing himself in a music genre called “8-bit Music” which derives its instrumentals digitally from Gameboys, effectively using the hand held device as a synthesizer and music emulator. By night workings fervently in his home, Kevin Barnes style, on the next batch of ACH tunes. The creative process for the band is in no way hindered by this separation: Keyser composes music on his laptop and then sends out the files of the rough instrumental copies of each song to Dustin who then listens to the tracks he likes and waits for inspiration to strike. Keyser’s and Kniffen’s efforts over the summer of ’07 led to an eponymous debut album, and soon after, though a profile on Bestmusiconcampus.com, MTVU had sent them an email saying that they had been voted into the competition by online fans. ACH put up a heroic fight before being eliminated in the top 10 round. The music industry may be at a weird place right now, but Keyser and Kniffen aren’t. Labels have shown interest in the band, but Keyser admits: “We’re a difficult band to sell because groups that aren’t able to tour can’t make money – especially with the difficult economy.” On the other hand, ACH has managed to put their songs up for sale on Napster, Rhapsody and iTunes, as well as their Myspace page which holds several of the songs from their EP for free listening. One song, “The Epic Crush” flies like leaves sweeping across the city streets; the bustling rhythm and bright piano solo strings together cohesively with the lyrics leaving no traces of distance between the two artists. Kris Keyser and Dustin are certainly a Dynamic Duo. My online interview with them plays out like a normal Friday night conversation between friends – we joke back and forth about Flavor Flav and stage antics – I feel like the two are hanging out in my room joking face to face. I can tell they are great friends. The possibility of Kniffin moving out to the east coast is mentioned. If so, the two have more than a shot of achieving critical success.