After two or three weeks of almost exclusively reviewing thrash/heavy metal and hard rock, it’s time for a change. There’s a few styles out there that TT are big fans off, yet we’ve written nothing about them. One of those styles is dark, down trodden dance alt rock. I’m sure there’s a much cooler name for it but that’s pour description. So, to remedy this, a certain Galway band by the name of Low Sea have been brought to our attention and really, you don’t get much bleaker and atmospheric than this. Forget trying to write New Order versions of Abba, these guys are in it for real. As accessory sounds go, they’re pretty good.
As usual, we’ve never seen them live or heard their album.
Never Yours is dark, haunting and strangely unavoidable. After a two listens you’ll be compelled to keep listening. If you’ve ever seen Requiem for a Dream you’ll know what we’re talking about. It’s horribly shocking, bleak and more depressing than Holyhead yet, you have to watch it occasionally because underneath there’s something very good about the film. Never Yours may be dark but it’s got a good solid repetitive beat that’s worked for bands like Joy Division, Kraftwork, My Bloody Valentine and The Velvet Underground. Although, to say Low Sea can be compared to any of these acts is a stretch. They write desolate trance rock and they ain’t too bad at it. Not to be listened to if you’re trying to start the weekend buzz or smoking but definitely worth checking out.
Skipping the Velvet Underground cover (as TT doesn’t review covers), we pop on I Know and it opens up a slightly more diverse style. The vocals are delivered in an echoey, haunting style that sits well on top of the noise censored backdrop of music. They basically taken a slow R&B/Soul/alt rock style and layered it with electronica. Again, if you’re in the right mood it’s quite enchanting. If you’re not, wait till you are and then listen.
The Crash is much more a ground beating dance headf**k. Taking the simple beats of Never Yours but upping the intensity with pounding bass drum beats that explode out unexpectedly. Lyrically, the song isn’t grabbing Tickets There. We aren’t that depressed and we don’t wish we were dead but some people like depressing lyrics so, there’s something for everyone. Seriously though, quite a deadly wee number. For TT, the love of dance music comes from the percussion and there’s plenty to like on this one. The vocals and bass combo’s towards the end just sell it. But I think they stole the looped keyboard music from The Who’s Baba O’Riley intro, never a bad thing to sound like the Who though.
Overall, we like it. It’s dark, it’s chilling and it’s convincing. The guys play an awkward, often mediocre and simplified sound but they do it well. The recordings are tight and the changes in the sound keep’s things pretty interesting. You can bank that TT will be finding gout more about this mysterious two-some, Billy and Bobby D.
Check out their MySpace by Clicking Here
Their debut album, Las Olas is available now in a super-cool, PiL styled metal box and can be purchased from the bands MySpace page.
'Ticket's There' - Irish and International Music Blog 