The Graham Colton Band creates pleasant idiosyncrasies and melodies with three solid guitars, a bass guitar, a beat and a voice that is perfectly imperfect.

Graham Colton, the lead singer and founder of the band, left his hometown of Oklahoma City for Texas to attend school and work on his solo career. For a year Colton worked small gigs around Dallas until one of his tapes landed into the hands of another local guitarist “Turtle.” The two met and instantly they were working and writing songs together.

“The thing that flipped me and Graham on when it comes to writing is that it was easy. I could reference things that I couldn’t even articulate and he just knew what I was saying,” Turtle said in a release from Universal Motown.

Later the band recruited yet another guitarist, Drew Nichols. After working together, the band found 17 year old drummer, Jordan Elder, and in turn, Elder brought on board bassist Ryan Tallent.

The three guitarists, bassist and youngster drummer took off across the country after being asked to tour with the Counting Crows. Now the Graham Colton Band has played more than 300 shows and gained the respect of fellow touring acts such as the Wallflowers, Guster and John Mayer.

“Working with experienced bands made us realize it takes a lot of rehearsals, ideas and being open,” Nichols said in the press release.

The band is able to create a slow, melancholy sound, but also turn around and get heads bumping to the beat in their debut album, Drive. Colton’s voice is bittersweet and leaves a fuzzy feeling reverberating after the crooning has stopped. While the guitars are not distinct from one another, they are all integrated together to create a surrounding feeling, as though the music could have absorptive qualities.

On Drive’s final track, “All the World Tonight,” the guitar slowly lulls the listener in with one guitar peacefully strumming away before it is joined by Colton’s voice saying, “All the innocence has gone away/Son, someday you’ll be man.”

His voice is strong, powerful and tranquil at the same time. Although he isn’t shouting, his message is potent as he talks about how the future affects the present and that in one moment you can see everything in front of you and the whole world.

In “Cigarette,” a song that opens with an intense strumming of multiple guitars reminiscent of the Goo Goo Dolls, the beat is harder and more prevalent than in other songs, as Colton drones melodiously “You make me wanna smoke a cigarette/You make me want to be somebody else/You make me want to be somebody you could leave and I could forget.” The band manages to make a depressing thought, a man who’s so in love with someone he shouldn’t be, and pull it into a song that’s fun and addictive to listen to.

The band is not perfect, but their beats are enthusiastic and their guitars are harmonious. Their combination of sounds is pleasant to the ears and adds a stomp to the feet. For their debut album it shows that they have talent and they can only grow more.