Formerly known as Further, Baldwin, NY's Amazing Device created strong ripples throughout the underground scene with an internationally aired performance on the "Farmclub.com" TV show, along with their well received "EP 2001". As such it is with this "The Demo", that they have returned with 3 new songs that pay homage to the fact that they're easily one of the hottest up and comers in the indie ranks and are destined for great things in the near future. With a more refined approach and intricate arrangements, the band have also taken to incorporating some acoustic instrumentation into their melodic emocore styled rock that can bring to mind recent efforts by Incubus, combined with the likes of Far and Sense Field.

Band frontman Aaron Wilson's voice has grown in leaps and bounds, allowing him to now firmly control his emotionally injected warm tones and dynamic verbal delivery in emphatic, almost Brandon Boyd of Incubus reminiscent croons. Fortunately, the guitar work has also been beefed up as well and uses some interesting harmonics and a light dash of effects to accentuate its driving rhythmic riffs that come cloaked in a crisp distortion that provides a moderately punchy edge to the groups material overall. Combined with some spiraling acoustic passages, the music takes on a sort of free-fall like quality that soothes, while steadily propelling the songs forward. The bass playing provides an interesting contrast, using a tuning that is noticeably a bit lower, yet still strikingly resilient, pushing out from beneath the weaving guitars to provide a slant of sorts for the songs to continually snowball down on. Meanwhile, the percussion is crisp and perhaps a bit scaled down, but its power is definitely felt when necessary and band drummer Colin Schiller's versatility and gentle composition, combined with his occasional hard hits help to increase the bands range tenfold.

The material captured here is definitely a step above the groups last effort and though it does somewhat lack the aggression shown in their older material, its tighter cohesion and more colorful palette of sounds really help to make the material blossom. Its still edgy and retains a certain sense of urgency, but there's also an increased grasp of harmonies and buildups which go a long way in terms of depth and longevity while also giving off an air of mature grace. Its true that at times the band may be a bit too upbeat for some, and the lacking of screams and such which were occasionally present on their past outings may come as a disappointment to those who had hoped the band to grow a tad heavier; but in the end, the path chosen here works and finds them creatively stronger and more refined than ever before, suggesting that "amazing" things lie closely ahead for them.