The Vantage

The contagious and infectious grooves and melody lines that the Vantage brings to the table will have you coming back for more. They bring about a high energy that can be felt through their music and can paint a picture of their performance in your head as you listen. In their newest release, the Vantage continues to push the boundaries of what indie pop has to offer by delivering catchy lines and changing up musical patterns and keeping their composition fresh.
Their music is a perfect mix of indie, pop, and electronica, as they incorporate fresh dynamics (crescendo/decrescendos) to help their music remain intriguing and interesting to the listener. The instrumentation is also well thought out, showing their unique composition skills, complete with great melody lines placed with thoughtful lyrics delivered by a powerful vocal style. - blackonthecanvas.com

Place In The Water is a luminous and vibrant new alt pop track from Austin’s The Vantage. The soaring anthem has the energetic, stomping qualities of Imagine Dragons, blended with some of Walk The Moon’s mellifluous pop charm, the sweeping tendencies of Young The Giant, and the dewey pastoral hues of American Authors. Immediately hooking and quite exhilarating, Place In The Water is a potently vacarious new taste from the band. - I Heart Moosiq

Their sound is a blend of poppy indie rock melodies reminiscent of
Imagine Dragons with a mixture of dark and sunny guitar riffs to ignite
your soul with rock n’ roll.
Let latest single “Place In The Water,” is a strong ballad drenched in
diverse instrumentation, profound percussion and infectious guitar and
synth chord progressions that will set you on your own path of selfdiscovery.
Their structure and vocal pattern is a reminiscent of Walk The
Moon with the indie prowess of American Authors. Find your own place
in the water and keep your finger on the pulse of this bustling indie pop outfit. - Earmilk

The Vantage just dropped "Place in the Water" and we want you to check it out. If you like Young
the Giant or American Authors, you will dig this track. So go ahead and dive right in to the
"Water." - ArtistDirect

Austin based pop indie act The Vantage have created a buzz with their song On My Way. The band has already garnered over 200K plays on Soundcloud, and ‘On My Way’ was recently featured on ABC Family’s “The Vineyard”.They are mix of Jack Johnson, Fun, Imagine Dragons and The Dangerous Summer. - Kings of A&R

Hailing from the very streets that brought us hits like Ben Kweller and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Austin, Texas has brought us another great musical act. Just over a year old, The Vantage, a band of musical duo, James Mason (vocals) and Jackson Wise (guitar and vocals) has already released an EP that highlights their vocals and has the listener restless for a full-length album.
Released in May of this year, Summer EP has six toe-tapping tracks featuring many talented musicians such as Nash Breen, formerly of Armor for Sleep, as well as Ari Sadowitz of Heavy English.
Listening to the EP, I’m reminded of my underclassman years in high school listening to bands like All Time Low, Mayday Parade and Boys Like Girls. The Vantage’s lead singer, Mason, has a voice that is reminiscent of these early 2000's bands, and their drum beats are just as simple.
Though The Vantage’s EP is terrible catchy and you just can’t help but tap your toes along to Changes, the band’s music isn’t anything too groundbreaking or complex. Each track on the Summer EP follows a simple 4/4 time with the typical four chords on guitar that doesn’t necessarily show any depth of musical talent.
As they are only a year into the band, The Vantage seems to be in a very early stage of developing themselves, as far as the complexity of their music goes. I am excited to see where their sound will take them and how they develop in the years to come. However, because the EP isn’t too terribly complex or require any depth of commitment, it makes the perfect summer record to drive to with the windows down and tapping the beat on your steering wheel. The Vantage’s Summer EP is exactly that: for summer. So if you’re looking for a great EP to listen to while you drive your friends to the beach, be sure to check out The Vantage on iTunes. - Coeus Magazine

Honestly, prior to hearing about The Vantage, I hadn’t thought about the pop-punk/rock of Safety Word Orange in quite some time. However, even back in 2011, I felt Safety had a lot of potential if they took a few more risks. The Vantage, the new band of Safety’s singer James Mason and guitarist Jackson Wise, does exactly that with their debut EP, Summer. This sound is a nice dose pop-rock made for summer nights, with a handful of tricks thrown in there.

Somber guitar strums and softly sung words open the EP with “Changes.” The diversity and experimentation come early on though. Out of nowhere comes a groovy bass meets synth midway through, yet the song also unexpectedly shifts tempo back to the slow eerie feel of the intro. It’s a lot of miscellany packed into one track, but The Vantage are all about taking risks. “Chasing After You” proves the skill of Wise on the guitar, as the shifty guitar line has quite the folk meets jazz influence. It’s rare this kind of jazzy guitar work surfaces in pop music (insert John Mayer comment here), but it works well throughout this track – even the guitar solo doesn’t come across as over the top.

The EP’s softest point follows with “From The Start,” a song that thrives on simplicity. It’s calm, soft, yet romantic. After Mason sings, “When I met you darling / I loved you from the start,” the endearing “oh-oh’s” fill the air before the lightly plucked guitar sneaks back in. It’s delicate, calm, and endearing – the ideal soft love song. The antithesis of “From The Start” comes with closer “City I’m Dreaming Of." The final track brings each element of the EP to a new level. Right off the bat, you’ve got the jazzy guitar line, but it's the hasty drums that get your foot tapping right along. Handclaps and finger snaps follow until suddenly an electric guitar line fights its way in as Mason sings at top volume, “So here’s the part where it all starts spinning around.” The way the guitar gets frenzied as Mason sings these words again attests to the skill of the band on a songwriting standpoint, saving the best for last.

For just a debut EP, Summer has The Vantage enlisting the best of the best here, and it shows. Rob Freeman’s production is stellar as always, while guest Ari Sadowitz (of The Narrative) flexes his bass skills, adding to the mix. And of course Breen’s drumming really tops it all of. Mason and Wise have finally recognized their potential and embraced it with The Vantage and Summer, as each track showcases a different skill from the two musicians.

8/10 - AbsolutePunk.net