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Seachange, "Lay of the Land"
This is the sound of a band searching for its sound, tossing out anumber of tricks they picked up in the hopes that some will click andform together to make something coherent. Seachange has the elements tomake a coherent statement, but on Lay of the Landthey are not distilled, mixed in with any number of ideas that don'tquite fit the band like a glove. Seachange's vocalist delivers hislyrics in a trim British accent, neither sloppily spitting them out norlaying them down in sharp bolts, but rather reciting crisply, andskimming along the top of the overdrive pedal-laden riffage thatcomprises a fair amount of Lay of the Land. For despite the attempted utilization of abrasive chords and effects, the music on Lay of the Landis rather polite. "The Nightwatch," like nearly every other song on thealbum, uses an incessant strum on every beat technique that leads oneto believe that if they didn't strum on every beat, they'd lose theirtempo and the song would collapse into an amateurish confusion.Ironically, their use of effects and noise seems to indicate that theband wants to appear as if they are a reckless outfit, hell bent onkicking up dust and just inches from exploding into chaos. "TheNightwatch" features a particularly annoying crescendo of static thatmaterializes in the middle of the track and then hovers over it like amiasma of numbing fog. The static is merely ornamental, tacked onto anunremarkable song in an effort to give it punch, instead rendering theband's case less credible. "Forty Nights" is one of the few moments inwhich the band seems to be accomplishing what they want to, and all thesqualling and shrieking here make for an intriguing few minutes. Thesong seems fully conceived of with a particular idea, unlike the otherhybrids on the album. When they are not trying to gussy up their indiepop songs with noise rock affectations, Seachange manages to make somepretty decent indie pop, such as on the opening track "Anglokana,"which builds a tension greater with less guitar scraping and moregrace. "Carousel" takes that politeness that was such a liability andturns it into a catchy premise. Lay of the Land is at timesexasperating, but shows evidence of possessing more potential than maybe evident upon first listen. It's there, once separated from theflashy chaff that threatens to smother it.
