Saturday, August 4, 2012

Saturday Album Review: 2:54


Debut albums can be interesting. They can often genereate one of two kinds of listener responses. Sometimes a debut album can sound interesting and full, showing lots of promise. Sometimes it can come off sounding inexperienced or even juvenile, standing on the glory of the album's first single and expecting the masses to invest in an otherwise hollow selection of songs that elicit little repsonse in listeners.

The new album by London's 2:54 is much of the former. Right out of the gate with 'Revolving' the band show deft talent. This intrigue keeps up through the entire album.

Here, every song plays a part of a whole. There is no one standout track, and neither are there throwaways. The band plays a rich blend of alternative rock melodies melded with undertones of post rock and carrying shoegaze accents. The music behind the vocals is a ringing array of guitar-based soounds and off-kilter drum patters that still carry a rhythm that can keep listeners nodding. Above the infections melodies that fill the music of the album, the vocals ring with layered delay and reverb-a trick shoegaze bands have been employing since the early 1990s.

Listen to 2:54s closer 'creeping' below. It is spaced-out enough to sound undeniably strange and beautiful, but standard (for alternative rock)enough to gather in more mainstream listeners.

I feel confident enough to highly recommend 2:54. We are looking forward to more great music from the band. This album gets 4.3 stars.

No comments:

Post a Comment