Hardboiled Wonderland is comprised of Percy Howard and Martin Birke. “As Small as a World as Large as Alone” is their debut album. Each band member has worked on other projects before and have a core fan base, but this is their first time collaborating on a whole album together. They have a unique sound as Percy is on vocals and Martin orchestrates the instrumentals.

Each song on the album pretty much had the same feel and critique from me. The instrumentals on the whole album were awesome, but the lyrics and vocals were in desperate need of improvements. Most of the songs had an 80’s or old school hip-hop vibe mixed with some dance and electronica. The instrumentals carried the whole album and they were the only saving grace. On the other side, Percy’s vocals were off-key, had limited range, and the awkward lyrics didn’t help at all. The only song where his voice was bearable would be “Little Queen of Spades,” which was also my favorite song on the whole album because of the fast pace and up-tempo beats. Otherwise, I would have been happier if the whole album were just the instrumentals.

I have never heard of the band and its members, so I was not really sure what to expect when reviewing this album. Each song started out good, but when Percy starts singing, my opinion changed for the worse. They do have a unique sound, but it was not all a good one. Martin is a very talented artist and I do plan on checking out his other work, but I will not be looking up Percy Howard anytime soon. For those reasons, I am giving this CD a “D+.”