Sights & Sounds

Silver Door EP

Written by: TL on 15/11/2013 21:41:23

Considering that Sights & Sounds is the lesser known of Comeback Kid singer Andrew Neufeld's two bands, and that the success of their debut album "Monolith" seemed more critical than commercial, I had actually sort of started thinking that it would be a one-off type deal. Turns out that Neufeld and his friends have more ambition invested here than I thought though, because here they are back with an EP called "Silver Door" and with plans to tour Europe in support of Bring Me The Horizon and Pierce The Veil in December.

Opening with "Poli's Song", the sound is immediately more twangy and organic than I remember the band for, but it's not a change for the worse, as the song seizes you instantly with the self-awareness in Neufeld's strained cry of "I never told you what I was looking for, so maybe I deserve it!" and moves to a rousing chorus, with a keyboard howling underneath, channeling somewhat of a windy parallel to the new Deaf Havana. With the following "Cards In Place" however, we're right back to the band's original cinematic post-hardcore, with layered vocals singing an urgent gospel while fevered drums and bass kick up the storm until the song resolves in a rising chorus that soars upon more chiming guitar twang. Continuing with "Nothing At All", this is what Sights & Sounds stand for - much like Moving Mountains's "Waves" album, the Canadian quartet is about sounding like howling storms and crashing waves, except Neufeld's layered vocals retain the strained power of his Comeback Kid work, though they're more laced with melody on here. Rhythmically this song is a bit more lumbering though, veiling the development that does take place across its length slightly, thus not quite holding up the strong impression given by the first two songs.

Things take a twist for the eerie and the unsettling in "Hold On Me", with the muted guitar-footsteps that sneak about in the song, around bursts of riffage that underscores the oddly contrasting "Save the woooorld!" refrains and the band ventures further out on this tangent on "Solo, So Low", which employs a horror-tinged rockabilly atmosphere that reminds me of now defunct experimentalists Dog Fashion Disco's "Adultery". It makes a memorable impression right away, though not one I'm sure is as winning as the band's regular approach, which returns in the fast paced and anthemic EP closer "Good Morning", which sounds like the closest to a distinctly hopeful song that I can remember hearing from the band - like a time-lapse of a sunrise with an accepting "We don't always stay the same!" refrain repeated over it.

Overall "Silver Door" doesn't really offer itself to super deep scrutiny in my opinion. It seems a strongly uttered "HEY YOU GUYS! WE'RE STILL HERE AND YOU GOTTA PAY ATTENTION TO US!" from Sights & Sounds, while offering the listener with three-four solid cuts in a style that's similar to the preceding album, and two that, whether you like them or not, provide an interesting contrast to the band's style. Beyond that though, I think it lacks the scope and coherency of a full length, which is really something I think is needed for music of this band's format to have the proper impact. So while there's no word on where the band stands in terms of another full length, regardless this feels most like a prequel to something bigger.

Download: Poli's Song, Cards In Place, Good Morning
For The Fans Of: Moving Mountains, Thrice, Devil Sold His Soul, newer Bring Me The Horizon
Listen: facebook.com/sightsxsounds

Release Date 04.11.2013
Pure Noise Records

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