The Soundscapes

Freestyle Family

(BNS Sessions)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

The first song hits a little Sonic Youth, a little Pavement, and then slides effortlessly and almost unexpectedly into very lush and smooth pop, a little more Flaming Lipped than Lo-Fi. Swirls of that Britpop dreampop gazing flow across the song, and out into the atmosphere hitting on a thick Swervedriver crunch, but taken in a different direction by the vocal push. The next song hits with a beautiful lush guitar that just feels so perfectly Sonic Youth it almost hurts, but again, it’s the touch of the vocals that keep it from being the same. You haven’t heard it before, even though you feel like you have. Sonic déjà vu that feels like the ache of desire.

It’s full and driving and doesn’t let you go. The vocals move dream like but strong across the melodics and rhythms, somewhere undefined. A little splash of Malkmus, a touch of Ashcroft, a sliver of Yorke, but not falling upon anyone in particular. “Back to Life” pushes the indie buttons a little hard, but then switchly shifts back into that driving dream by the next song.

There are some more spacious and miasma moments in here, as found in the slight Polvo touched twist of guitar chords of “High Noon In The Nuclear Era”, giving you more of a picture of the soundscapes being travelled upon. Everytime I think I’m finally understanding the ebb and flow of sound, the band subtly switches it around a little. It’s all falling into the same general area, so the songs keep themselves tied together in a nice cohesive manner, but they all hit on slightly different moods, keeping it all from sounding too much the same.

The drums keep everything moving forwards, even when the guitars stretch and catch and try to pull you out into the past. The bass lines hook and groove, and the vocals keep it all together, looking at the same destination, the vanishing point, off on the horizon, we’ll all get there soon.