Search/Rescue

The Compound

Written by: TL on 02/02/2009 14:29:19

I'm not in the mood for extravaganza today, so this review is not going to be a long or particularly elaborate one, the cause for which leads directly back to the album on the chopping block, namely Search/Rescue's first full length, titled "The Compound". The band is composed of members Acceptance and Gatsby's American Dream, however, if you expect any trace of the quality people connect with these bands, you will be sorely disappointed.

Think of a mainstream brit-rock band, ANY random mainstream brit-rock band, and you will already grasp what Search/Rescue are essentially about, at least that's my verdict upon discovering how endlessly similar "The Compound" sounds to bands like Snow Patrol and Your Vegas - Coldplay not being far behind in the line of bands that easily compare. It's all about floaty, medium paced mainstream rock suited for arenas with easy singalongs from start to finish and next to no surprises in sight.

It's not that I have that much of an issue with writing rock designated for arenas, the problem is only that you have to make an impression on a lot of people to ever get to play an arena in the first place, and for a band that's pretty much indiscernible from a handful of big names of the time, I wager that's going to be an almost impossible endeavour. The first song "Fireflies" is the only thing that comes close to making a lasting memory, and from then on out, it's basically just the same bells and whistles being employed over and over in the same formula, and the result is a record that's best described with the concepts "Safe" and "Samey".

It's NOT that Search/Rescue are bad musicians by any means, on the contrary they obviously have the craftsmanship to put things together sounding nicely and smoothly, but they just seem to lack any ambition to stand out and sound like a band of their own. So much in fact, that this review could've probably been just as accurately written in one line saying "Sounds like Snow Patrol and Your Vegas, only those are much better and you should listen to them first". I actually find it hard to put it any more precisely than that, and the more I think about it, I think I'd actually be more interested in pulling Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" out of my archives over this, and those who know me also know that I was fuckin' bored by that record. I guess that says it all. Get "Your Vegas" or "A Hundred Million Suns" (Snow Patrol) instead.

Download: Fireflies
For The Fans Of: Snow Patrol, Your Vegas, Coldplay, Keane
Listen: myspace.com/searchrescue

Release Date: Fall 2008
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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