Fin Records didn't have to look any further than their own backyard in Seattle to come up with this single from locals Sweet Water, who made a name for themselves back when the town was just coming onto the national stage with the signing of everyone playing in a band out there by every major label thanks to the name of a ladies deodorant. These guys were caught up in that grunge apocalypse hurricane and have continued honing their craft right up through this single released just a few months ago.
A-Side's, "Hey Living" uses a swirl shoegaze sound, warbling in and out of phase across the channels, it's almost dizzying, and then they hit with a huge chorus guitar effect, really clean and punchy with huge snare slap hits. This one's got a slightly dark verse about going out, but it's alright if you stay in too, this guy just wants you to make your own decisions. Mechanical rigid drumming, perfectly recorded, a slight tremolo on the vocal, but that phasered section of guitar theatrics between the speaker channels is mind bending, headphones definitely required. It's a hard hitting punch of a rock-shoegaze sound that isn't staring at it's feet, huge and impressive, heavy hitting, first and foremost, with a slight british guitar rock feel wrapped in a crystal clear glove punch.
"Get High Clover" on the B-Side goes almost modern psych with cavernous drum hits, some reverse smacking, in a Flaming Lips direction, that kind of ultra production bending sound waves into something new… really slow bending tracks, doubled vocals in separate channels, (man they love messing with the separation like this). Solid, steady drum beat and then some laid back guitar stuff, messing with a thousand effects, they've had access to all the tricks and tools. Big synth sounds, like a weird alternate mix of "Guns in the Sky". An abstract lyric done in that Happy Mondays way of bashing their head with a mellow groove and never letting up. Take what used to be a slow dance jam, beat it into submission with flailing guitar and total weirdness, backwards cymbals and mind altering dru….production, no expense spared, all the dials on 10, every last cable chained together in a real freak out of a B-Side, which exists for exactly these experimental tracks.
Blue vinyl with an orange sleeve from Fin Records. Sample below.
Best band ever.
ReplyDelete