A free download is a free download, right?
It’s not often one comes across one like this. The blogosphere churns out the next big thing just about everyday. Sometimes the recommended bands are exactly what I need (Arcade Fire) and other times, just the opposite (Arctic Monkeys). But this time I felt like I was 14 again -when finding a new artist wasn’t an everyday occurrence- receiving a duped copy of a CD or a tape that a friend insisted was a “must hear”.
The blog world is right on this one, Beat Radio, is a must hear. The New York based indie-rock quartet fronted by singer-songwriter Brian Sendrowitz, is a group of friends playing music that they understand in full and therefore it translates to the listener. They certainly have evident influences, yet their sound is somehow still original.
The Great Big Sea, the bands debut, typically and properly has been compared to bands like Luna, Broken Social Scene and Clap Your Hands Say Yea. But these comparisons overlook the influence of classic rock visionaries like Van Morrison and Neil Young.
It is a meshing of worlds that can coexist, and do. The vocals shake with the emotion of the lyrical poetry. The fuzzy guitars allow for the vocals to attack the heart. It is an album for the long hot summer, both the beginning-filled with the hope of a season ripe with love and excitement and the end-filled with despair and heartache.
“And in my secret heart the revolution starts/The sun is burning through the clouds/Meet me on Sunday Night/Wait for the morning lights/Everything is temporary now.” So goes “Everything Is Temporary” carrying those expectations and disappointments concurrently in the same melody. 11 songs of confusion fill this LP, 5 of which are new.
The album also contains 6 songs from the Ecstatic EP from 2005. Yet the album flows flawlessly, as if written in order. Track by track you wonder how an album like this goes unnoticed. If you give this one a chance you will be instantly be ready for more.
The Great Big Sea is the kind of album that has you anticipating the next.
Now you know…a free download is not just a free download. Go to www.beatradio.org for the zip file. |