Merge Records – Unsung Sundays https://unsungsundays.com What you should be listening to. Sun, 23 Oct 2016 04:14:57 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.1 The Clientele: Strange Geometry https://unsungsundays.com/album-reviews/the-clientele-strange-geometry/ Sun, 15 Nov 2015 13:02:26 +0000 http://unsungsundays.com/?post_type=album_reviews&p=133 Heralded even by some members of the band as their best record, Strange Geometry might be the best that English band The Clientele have to offer. Airy, wistful, cheery, but somehow still heart-breaking, Strange Geometry is an uplifting and commendable effort from one of England's most unusual successes.

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]]> The Clientele are one of those unique British bands that have succeeded more on American soil than they have in their own home. Part of that success is likely due to sharing a label with Spoon, but another part of it is their indie rock-like sounds that feels more familiar in the Americana-drenched U.S. than it might in the land of Oasis.

I was attracted to Strange Geometry because of tis great cover-art, which is very neutral and somehow obvious. The record is a classic in its genre though, which sounds that have since been imitated countless times by more acts than I can think of off the top of my head.

What’s unique about the record is that its spaced-out instrumentation feels at least five years ahead of its time, as if the band had a magic ball and saw some of the dreampop style well in advance. And while the second half of Strange Geometry isn’t perfect — the album slows considerably — it’s an interesting listen purely because The Clientele appeared to know something everybody else did not.

This is not the sort of record you put on when it’s time to rock out to something righteous, but it is the right sort of music for striking a melancholic Monday or Tuesday morning. And for fans of indie, or for bands like Beach House, this ahead-of-its-time precursor is highly recommended.

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]]> Wye Oak: Shriek https://unsungsundays.com/album-reviews/wye-oak-shriek/ Sun, 11 May 2014 12:04:04 +0000 http://unsungsundays.com/?post_type=album_reviews&p=920 Wye Oak’s fourth album attempts to reinvent the group and send them in a different direction, and does so with reckless abandon. Shriek defies expectations, but might be the best Wye Oak record yet.

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]]> Wye Oak have slowly been climbing their way to the top of the indie rock pile for years. But Shriek is a different tune than usual for them. I, for one, am not complaining — I usually love it when a band experiments — but for those looking for the full breadth of Wye Oak’s work, it’s well visiting their 2011 record Civilian as well.

As a result, Shriek surprises. Check out Glory, or Sick Talk, as great examples of what an indie band can do when they drop everything and focus solely on growing their sound. Despicable Animal sounds like a bit of a throw-back to an older time, but I mean that in a good way.

One of my favourite comments about the record is that Annie Clark could have sounded like with the new St. Vincent record if she wasn’t so worried about “being weird” — I love it because it makes no sense. Is this record too weird? Too normal? I have no idea; I just think it sounds great. Listen to Logic of Color! More of this, please!

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]]> Divine Fits: A Thing Called Divine Fits https://unsungsundays.com/album-reviews/divine-fits-thing-called-divine-fits/ Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:03:36 +0000 http://unsungsundays.com/?post_type=album_reviews&p=1547 On their debut record, Wolf Parade and Spoon come together to make a delightfully good modern rock record that takes all its cues from the past.

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]]> Divine Fits is technically a rock supergroup including members of Spoon and Wolf Parade (check both those bands out if you’ve got time, by the way). Their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, came out last year. It’s not perfect, but when it’s great, it soars.

Songs like Would That Not Be Nice and Like Ice Cream have some fantastic riffs. Would That Not Be Nice is the best rock riff I’ve heard since U2’s Vertigo. The album’s got a lot more than pure rock and roll going for it though, and gems like Baby Get Worse and Civilian Stripes make the record well worth looking into. And it’s rare to get a more subdued opening track than My Love is Real.

I think what makes Divine Fits work so well together on their debut album is a love for the Rolling Stones. I’ll be the first to admit that Divine Fits isn’t inventing something new on their debut. If anything, the record feels like it belongs in a vintage past that we’ve long since left behind.

But that vintage sound is played through the stylings of Spoon and Wolf Parade, two groups who have a decidedly modern take on what old-school should sound like. So A Thing Called Divine Fits doesn’t sound old and it doesn’t sound new. It just sounds good.

In rock music, there aren’t enough records that just sound good any more. A Thing Called Divine Fits is one of them.

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