It's nice when you hear a band trying to cross-pollinate genres, but sometimes the experiment goes horribly awry. The latter is unfortunately the case for Seven Nations, who are billed as a Celtic act, but turn out to be a bagpipe-infected Dave Matthews Band for the easy listening crowd. Seven Nations creates straight pop/rock with extremely slick production values. Granted, the band does hit some high notes, such as on "Seeds of Life," where the melodies are woven together in a very tranquil fashion, but these moments are stripped from the mind at the snap of a finger. The band makes two attempts to break new territory in what could best be described as Celtic funk on "Scream" and "The Surprise Ceilidh Band Set." The second of the two tracks isn't so bad because Seven Nations comes into more of their own voice rather than echoing sentiments already made by bands like G. Love & Special Sauce, as is the case with "Scream." Many of the instrumental passages on the record do tend to meander longer than necessary and cause the listener to lose interest. It's nice to hear musicians solo if they are going to make a point, but if it's just to stroke their own egos and pat themselves on the back for knowing their scales, then the music becomes dull and tedious to everyone except the performer ("Pipe Set"). If you're a fan of overindulgent, bland pop music, then this is the album for you.