DOWNLOAD: Link Removed Per Label Request [Arts & Crafts]
Recommended Tracks: "Snow In California," "Snakecharming The Masses," "Eastern Europe," "Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard."
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Despite being a huge fan of Arts & Crafts, I've never taken the chance to fall in love with The Stills. Perhaps they were just always overshadowed by my love of Broken Social Scene and Stars, but with the release of their third album on August 19th, I decided to give the Montreal quintet a chance. Oceans Will Rise is their first album on Arts & Crafts, having previously recorded for Vice Records. Doing their best British Sea Power impression, The Stills spend most of Oceans Will Rise creating huge rock anthems with brooding guitars, a tight rhythm section, and dramatic piano chords. A song like "Snow in California" snakes through the beginning of the album with a post-punk guitar riff and sound effects that are larger than life, a theme that continues on into "Snakecharming The Masses," a track that finds singer Dave Hamelin channeling his inner thespian, as he dynamically stretches his voice several octaves above normal. Lead single, "Being Here," sounds like a lost Snow Patrol song, as Hamelin sings the title over and over again, with lush guitars exploding behind him. And that's precisely the problem with Oceans Will Rise; it's a great sounding album, but there are no chances being taken. If you ever wondered how many songs one could write with soaring, U2-esque guitars, accessible lyrics, and a simple verse-chorus-verse structure, the answer is twelve, and they can all be found on Oceans Will Rise.
DOWNLOAD: Link Removed Per Label Request [Arts & Crafts]
Recommended Tracks: "Snow In California," "Snakecharming The Masses," "Eastern Europe," "Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard."
DOWNLOAD: Link Removed Per Label Request [Arts & Crafts]
Recommended Tracks: "Snow In California," "Snakecharming The Masses," "Eastern Europe," "Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard."
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6 comments:
I"m loving this record! Great songs. Songs.
Hey, take it easy. This is a good album.
Yes, absolutely no chances were taken making this album.
Disposable! Or unless someone finds your specific "if you want..." description exactly what their ideal "summer" album would be.
as a whole, stand-ins is better than stage names.
I wish people would answer the "Just who is the Stills singer?" question correctly once in awhile. Let's break it down.
Tim Fletcher sang the first 11 out of 12 songs on the Stills debut.
Then Dave Hamelin sang nine of twelve songs on their follow-up. Tim's songs: Helicopters, Outro, and Halo the Harpoons.
Tim is once again singing the majority of the lead on this album. Dave has four (I think): Don't Talk Down, Everything I Build, Panic, and I'm With You. Snakecharming the Masses is not one of them.
Also, I've never heard a U2 song that sounded like Everything I Build. The only U2-ish song on the album is Being Here, which also strangely sounds like Snow Patrol.
Correction from my last post: Everything I Build is Tim singing, as well.
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