Reviews
Fjord Rowboat
saved the compliments for the morning
Digg this review.
Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2008-01-21
"Healing the world with reverb since 2004" reads a line repeated on Fjord Rowboat's myspace page, CDbaby page, and others, I'm sure. They've listed themselves under Shoegaze and Psychedelic on their myspace profile as well as listing their influences as My Bloody Valentine, The Doves, Jesus and Mary Chain, Interpol, Mogwai, and you get the point.
Of these comparisons, only two are actually valid: Interpol and The Doves. This is where the excitement begins and ends. Craig Gloster's vocals can certainly invoke comparisons to The Doves, and the band's guitar work is rather Interpol-ish: driving, reverbed leads and jagged melodies etching their way over up-tempo rhythms. Unfortunately, this is where the comparison ends, while their aspirations continue climbing much higher up this particular mountain. Sonically, they are effectively a straight-ahead indie band mixed with atmospheric colourings from wet guitars and keyboard washes, but far more the former than the latter. There's very little actual "shoegaze" sound, and certainly no psychedelia. I've always associated shoegaze with more experimental textures and sounds, not this smoothly atmospheric melodic rock than Fjord Rowboat has recorded, but I don't like being a genre nazi. I'll stick to what's on the record.
The main problem lies in the lack of sonic variance. Nearly every song utilizes almost identical textures. The guitars sound the same, the voice emotes in the same wispy detached way, the rhythm section employs the same banal rock devices. The drums in particular are quite disappointing. The recording of them is curious; many of the tracks feature a relatively dry drum track compared to reverbed vocals and guitars. The effect this has is to make it seem as if they were recorded in a small room, while the rest of the band played their parts in a large cavern or church. Perhaps it's that recording or the mixing, but they lack dimension, strength and character. This is why Interpol's music retains energy despite the detachment of the vocal - in fact, it's that push/pull of differing aesthetics that makes them interesting; Fjord Rowboat is all smoothness and no contrasting sound. This renders their songs bland and unremarkable, which is sad because the bands songwriting ability is fairly solid.
"Shootin' the Breeze" stands out as one highlight. A slow, melodic bass groove anchors the song and a keyboard lead fills out the space for Gloster to deliver one of the more cleaner vocal performances on the album. This leads into a wordless chorus of crashing drums and fully blessed out guitars and dreamy melody. The song builds to a huge finish and dissolves into a soft bass progression and reversed guitar notes. It's quite nice and a welcome change from the standard indie rock the rest of the album showcases.
Lead single (and track 1) "Carried Away" features a persistent beat and driving guitar, but the vocals here are too thin to take the song to the heights it wants to reach. I wonder if it sounds better live, with more meat and guts to it. "Paragon" is textbook 90's rock with heavy drum patterns ushering in loudly distorted verses and then breaking back into soft textures. Wash, rinse, repeat.
"Simply Stood" stands out as a decently-written song as well. Not great, but solid. It's difficult to pick a winner here since so many of the songs seem to blend into the next. Similar tempos and similar textures make the album as a 42 minute listen akin to taking knock-off Dayquil and spending the same amount of time in a haze of cheap pharmaceuticals in the middle of a sunny winter afternoon: not unpleasant, but not exactly enjoyable either. Come to think of it, if anyone currently has the flu (the odds are high, I know) this might be just the album to listen to.
I have a solid hunch that it's the recording that is truly letting the band down. Not coincidentally, the weakest-sounding tracks are the ones that band recorded and mixed themselves (although the rest aren't that much better) but considering the rumoured excellent live show these guys put on, you'd expect more energy, more dynamic sounds and life(!). I can only hope this is the case, although considering the band's predilection for their watery sound (seriously, after 10 songs of it, I'm pretty much sick of it and ordinarily I love reverb a little too much) I won't get my hopes up too high.
In the end, Saved the Compliments for Morning shows itself as middle-of-the-road rock not quite disguised by ambient camouflage. It's a poor-man's The Doves. Or worse, a poor-man's Coldplay. It all sounds pretty and nice, but where does it get us? Not very far. The album art is pretty cool, though.
Score: 4.7
- Jeff Geady