HRVRD

From The Bird's Cage

Written by: PP on 12/07/2013 20:10:42

All capital letters, few (if any) vowels in your band name. That seems to be the new trend when starting a new band, just look at RVIVR, TTNG and many other new-ish bands coming out with releases in 2013. HRVRD from North Carolina are the next in line with their new album "From The Bird's Cage", a soothing indie rock release that draws from the experimentalist soundscapes of Portugal. The Man, while integrating a chilling vocal performance that's much akin to Anthony Green on Circa Survive's "Juturna", before he went all-out on the high pitch stuff later on.

It's a restrained, slightly suppressed sound, that relies more on light, floating soundscapes than on catchy choruses and other obvious songwriting structures. Instead, it recalls the relaxing atmospheres of Death Cab For A Cutie, where focus is on depth-laden songs that have extensive build ups, before exploding into prolonged vocal passages that showcase the sublime capacity of vocalist Jesse's pipes. It's mildly experimental, though not as overkill as Portugal. The Man can be sometimes, here bringing to mind the oft-forgotten Days Away who released a great album back in mid 2000s in similar vein.

Most of the songs follow a similar path: slow to medium tempo, soothing vocals that occasionally burst out into louder and higher-pitch bits, but the omnipresent relaxed atmosphere also means that it sometimes feels like the songs build up into nothing really. On the plus side, it's a uniform sound that, once given some time, will definitely grow on you given its depth-oriented soundscape, which offers more underneath the surface than the initially simple impression suggests. "Futurist", among others, is the kind of track they should be writing all the time, but unfortunately they often get lost in their own conflict between whether to go full-on experimental (think the melancholic saxophone in "Kids WIth Fake Guns" or to go toward a poppier direction ("Black Creme"). But if you remember, this is the problem Circa Survive had on "Juturna" as well, so keep an eye out for these guys.

7

Download: Black Creme, Timid Scripts, Futurist, Flaming Creatures
For the fans of: Portugal. The Man, Circa Survive, Days Away, Death Cab For Cutie
Listen: Facebook

Release date 19.02.2013
Equal Vision

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