By Old Man
I have a soft spot in my shell for a simple tune played by a glockenspiel. Like Gregor Samsa, the simple melody of the glock' over piano of Great Northern's opening track of their debut L.P. "Trading Twilight for Daylight" was a like an apple thrown by my mother, wedged in my trim-tracking, advertisement-selling, music-review-blog-editing cockroach shell, puncturing my defenses. But "Doesn't it make you feel good?" co-lead singer Rachel Stolte asks on the opening track "Our Bleeding Hearts,"
and my sentimental reply is a masochistic yes, oh yes it does.Great Northern's debut full-length is a beautiful album. I can't resist the comparison to New Pornographers, simply because of the tradeoff of male and female singing, firmly established in the power-pop genre. Perhaps what sets them apart is their willingness to dive into electronic music, and samples, as exemplified on the drum sampling on "Low is a Height."
Drummer Davey Latter (of Earlimart noteriety) adds tasteful and deft minimalist drumming, perfect for the aforementioned opening track. His drumming reminded me of one of my favorite singles of a few years back, the atmospheric "The Commander Thinks Aloud" off of The Long Winters e.p. Ultimatum. A drummer who can think like a songwriter is like money in the bank, and Latter's contribution is like an early investment in Starbuck's stock.Their most popular I-Tunes track, "Home,"
sounds like a conglomerate of mid-nineties alt-rock, and while they do it better than many of their predecessors, as a single it leaves something more to be desired. Which is why for this album I am resistant to giving it much higher of a rating. The collection of songs is great, but their is no track that for me stands out as THE single: THE song, a gem that stretches beyond the heavily populated city of Good into the small rural town of Memorable: a song that I could show to my mom, to keep her from hurling that darn apple across the room. Nonetheless, with first albums we see potential - and there is a lot to see here.
Posts
3 comments:
Nice recommendation, Old Man.
Bravo to "Low Is a Height"! You have convinced me to purchase this.
Oops - Accidentally posted that one as someone else. So much for internet security!
This is Little August.
Oops! I was signed in under another account. So much for Internet Security!
That last comment was from Little August.
Post a Comment