I think I may be entering early into my winter funk. Let me back up a second. I hate winter. Hate it. I've lived my whole life in the Northeast and never gotten used to winter. There just really aren't that many things I like to do in the cold weather, so I find the whole time from late December to late March or so to be kind of a drag. Anyway, the funk.
I alluded to it a little bit in my post yesterday about Happy Mondays. That show was a bit of counter-programming; and, while I was at the show and for about a day after I got home, it worked. I was feeling good. Another drop in the temperature, though; and I started dropping again right along with it. This time I decided to go with something that I thought would play more directly to how I was feeling.
Seaside Caves are an Asbury Park trio whose sound owes quite a bit to the darkwave sounds of the late 70s and early 80s. This could work, I thought. On the band's self-titled EP, they play mostly as a four-, five-, or six-piece with the addition of some guests on all but one of the tracks.
"LES" gets things started. Todd Wacha's dark and brooding vocals detail a walk around Manhattan's underbelly. "I was broke, addicted and weak. I looked for money on the ground."
"Tonight" rolls in on James Sefchek's drums and the drone of Matthew Gere's keyboard, Wacha singing "I just hope I make it" as the song fades out." "Silent Signal" is built around a repetitive... ...well... signal, I guess, that hypnotically works its way into your brain; while epic set-closer "Vision" builds to a crescendo before trailing off to static or feedback as it ends.
This release also includes guest appearances from Ralph Nicastro (Wreaths) and Shaun Towey on guitar and Dennis Vosper on synthesizer. The whole thing was produced by the band and Paul Ritchie.
Seaside Caves is dark both thematically and musically. Funny thing is, though, it's kind of lifted me out of my funk. It's dark in a way that's captivating and mesmerizing. That's the thing about music for me. Whether it's all amped up and frenetic or dark and dreamy, when it's as good as this, it can make me stop and see that the world is, in fact, beautiful. Even if it is fucking freezing.
Seaside Caves is available now over at the band's Bandcamp and on iTunes and Spotify.
No comments :
Post a Comment