The Mary Onettes
Islands
The Mary Onettes have had a rough time.
While recording the follow-up to their 2007 self-titled debut, the hard drive containing all of the band’s recorded work was stolen from lead singer Philip Ekström’s car, and even extra precautions were foiled when the back-ups were lost to power failure.
However, the band persevered, pushing through with freshly written material.
Despite the pitiable back story, the album is somewhat lackluster.
The band’s second album, Islands, is eerily reminiscent of its first, boasting a sound that is unabashedly hijacked from the ‘80s.
Such a distinct sound, while effective in establishing a band, can grow weary after the first album.
Islands functions as nothing more than a re-release of the band’s debut album. While the actual text-setting for the songs has emotional variation, Ekström’s sleepy vocals don’t supply the range the lyrics deserve.
While it is unclear if the sound would have changed had the original recordings been released, the Swedish band has stuck to fanciful keyboards and shimmering guitars that would serve perfectly as the soundtrack for “Pretty in Pink.”
“Dare,” the first single off Islands, sums up the album perfectly, even it is not a completely new track. The song, which was first released on the Dare EP in April, fully utilizes the group’s rather impressive instrumental repertoire. Strings weave smartly among the bouncy power chords, giving the idea that the Mary Onettes have something more going for them, despite their failure to deliver.
It is tragic to think of what the Mary Onettes have gone through, but the band’s struggle is showing on Islands. If they had taken a little more time to regroup and reassess, they might have done better than this sound that is so easy to dismiss.
— Abby Johnston
Think About Life
Family
Think About Life’s time seemingly came and went with the band’s ‘06 debut, an impassioned effort that recalled Wolf Parade and The Unicorns without the confidence or hooks.
Back in May, the group released its follow-up Family in Canada, which was received with little recognition beyond Montreal blogs and MySpace fans.
Now that the band’s label, Alien8, has gathered enough money to distribute the album in the U.S., audiences can be newly inspired to give the band a chance and potentially discover a new favorite.
“Johanna” starts off a new era of Think About Life with vibrant horns, some crazy drumming and an ecstatic vocal performance by Martin Cesar — the driving force of the album despite contributions by the band’s main songwriter/instrumentalist Graham Van Pelt.
“Havin’ My Baby,” the second track, makes a clear case that Think About Life isn’t going to be retreading familiar ground this time; the song sounds like Kanye West, Cut Copy and TV On the Radio thrown into a blender. In other words, about as good as you’d
imagine.
While it was once a band that embraced an intentionally unattractive, lo-fi sound, Family’s biggest fault lies in how immaculately mechanical the band can sound. Dance floor-ready rock songs like “Sweet Sixteen” and “Young Hearts” sound too stiff to get loose to, often recalling Bloc Party’s last album.
The album is at its best when it layers the band’s more direct indie rock with diverse samples, synths, and guitar on tracks like “Wizzzard” and “Nueva Nueva.”
Family is an earnest record by a band trying to outlive its perceived potential and fully form an identity. It isn’t without its faults, but it’s one of the most energetic, creative and lavish albums of the year, even if it is one that you won’t be reading a lot about — at least not yet.
— Allistair Pinsof
Pelican
What We All Come to Need
When the Chicago post-rock outfit Pelican first burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, they were heralded as a group that could beckon the salvation of the music industry and for a while, that’s exactly what they did.
The band, which plays primarily instrumental pieces, functions as a sort of Isis with less aggression or, if you prefer, Explosions in the Sky with more aggression. The group toes the line between hard and soft, metallic and atmospheric.
The band’s latest release, What We All Come to Need, thankfully finds them returning to form after 2007’s City of Echoes. That album made it seem like Pelican had forgotten that without vocals, songs require more careful construction in order to tell a story.
From the beginning of this latest release, it’s clear the band has once again been reminded of that fact. The album opener, “Glimmer,” begins with a foreboding clean electric guitar line, which soon gives way to distortion and a rhythmically catchy (be it intentional or not) drum beat pounding in the background.
Elsewhere on the record, tracks live up to their titles beautifully, be it the sparkling melodies of “Ephemeral” or the grandiose ambitions of “Strung Up from the Sky.”
The band has found its sweet spot, playing tighter and with more passion than ever before.
Undeniably, the most impressive track on the record, and quite possibly of the band’s career, is “The Creeper.” Highlighted by a stuttering, adrenaline-pumping riff, the song is built from purely epic ingredients, fitting together perfectly into a puzzle of the highest magnitude — a masterpiece.
Parts of What We All Come to Need sound familiar, and the band still resorts to many of its old tricks when at a loss for new directions, but “The Creeper” alone makes the album fantastic.
The fact that there are other magnificent tunes on the album is just a bonus.
— Robert Rich
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