So Much Light - Supine/Spellbound
Rating
RIYL
Forgive DurdenHellogoodbye
This Town Needs Guns
The Speed of Sound in Seawater
Release Date
08/03/2012
Label
Self ReleasedTracklist
1. Abandoned Hospital Island2. Coarse Gold Girls
3. That Hollow Home
4. 90's High School Party
5. Firecracker Kid (Tonight at The Bronze)
6. Goblin Scrawl
7. Jared's Going to Love This
8. Chiarina
9. Hitching Post Bound
10. The Suburban Spellbound
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Damien Verrett, the man behind So Much Light, is also the man in the front of The Speed of Sound in Seawater, math-rockers who Pokémon-referenced their way into my heart last year by combining their first two EPs, Red and Blue Versions, into one release: Yellow Version. Having released a teaser EP last winter, it’s safe to say that Supine/Spellbound has been a long time coming.
Verrett’s first solo effort is as much of a departure from his band’s signature style as it is a reaffirmation. While some songs, like the album’s opener, “Abandoned Hospital Island,” are easily diagnosed as acoustic math rock and feel like a solo effort, the bulk of Supine/Spellbound is jam-packed with extra musicians and their respective instruments. In many ways, Verrett cultivates a lush, full chamber pop sound, not unlike newer Maps & Atlases or Vampire Weekend.
That being said, Supine/Spellbound is also quite campy, if the cover art of the idyllic suburban neighborhood in which two kids are holding hands wasn’t enough of a tip off. The lyrics are often moonstruck, sometimes matter-of-fact, usually quaint. Verrett’s delivery is high-pitched and vulnerable, often nearly whispered and tinged with falsetto, and his songs ring out gorgeously—but it’s not a Sigur Ros bad-ass kind of vulnerable and gorgeous. It’s more like an Owl City or Secondhand Serenade kind of vulnerable and gorgeous.
If you’ve got a taste for riff-hungry, whiskey-drinkin’ dude music, Supine/Spellbound probably doesn’t have a lot to offer you. But if you can sing all the lyrics to Copeland’s “Kite” in the right pitch, the mathy acoustics and buffet of orchestrations might just be a gateway drug into straight-up bumps of guilty pleasure and injections of black tar kitsch.
--Zach Roth
Comments
Let down by this review. This is so much better than 3 stars. The musicianship on this album is so great the Owl City/Secondhand Serenade comparisons really only serve as an insult.
Fishers, Indiana
Thanks for taking the time to not only read but also make an account and comment.
Just so we're clear, I'm drawing a comparison to the classically-trained musicians of Vampire Weekend in regard to Damien & Co.'s musicianship. It's stellar. That being said, the level of kitschy lyrics and over-sentimentality that drips from a lot of the songs keeps the appeal of the album to a more niche crowd, and that's where the less favorable comparisons come in.
Part of my star ratings take into account our readership, and while I think this is a great album for a heavier crowd, I think the lyricism and delivery ultimately hinder it.
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Edmonton, AB
I was pretty excited about this after hearing Abandoned Hospital Island, but then everything really slowed down after that. Didn't do much for me - although the last song was decent
Columbus, OH
I'll have to listen to this, but all I really got from this review is this: when will This Town Needs Guns' new album come out?!?!?!
Currently Listening To:
Lo!- Monstrorum Historia
HeavyArms- Burning Crowds
Shining- One One One
Edmonton, AB
Yes, this.
Fishers, Indiana
Not soon enough. I haven't heard a lot of news from them other than that they lost their original vocalist, which probably throws a wrench in the gears.
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