|
by joseph m. pence (notaninja) / ben hsieh (bbhsieh) - Mar 01, 2005
Audible - Sky Signal Review #1 - Ben Hsieh Audible is a Philadelphia based band on local Champaign label Polyvinyl. Their latest release Sky Signal is an exercise in standard dreamy indie pop. Fans of Earlimart, Kings of Convenience, Rilo Kiley, and Dios who want another record to either chill out to at 3 a.m. or to hum along to while studying for that neuroscience final look no further. October Song is a fitting overture to the rest of the album - almost whispered vocals, anthemic keyboards, singalong-friendly choruses, etc. Tracks like "Sunday Bell" and "Sound Makes a Circle" are bright spots - showing that Audible isn't afriad to kick up things a notch here and there, and the album finishes strong with the Rentals-esque "Finally Found." There is really strong songcrafting here - if you're a perpetually overcaffeinated neurotic like me then it might take a while to get in the right mood for this album, but if you get enough of these songs stuck in your head, it's like draping your arms around your best friends and singing with them. Review #2 - Joe Pence Here's the thing about Audible. I heard one song of theirs and it ruined me to the rest of the album. The song I heard was "Sky Signal," the title track of this album by the Philly, PA band, which Champaign-based label Polyvinyl was kind enough to give us a copy. This song is everything I wanted this album to be: a great hook tying down a stratospheric keyboard pop melody that connects way down into the middle of your soul. The other songs hardly sound this natural, this enthusiastic for a midtempo song; they don't really break free -- they don't move on all fours from a self-contained boundary of whispery chamber pop with electronic elements. Which isn't to say Sky Signal is outrightly bad, I find it listenable mood music. It's just that I almost expected the album to reach out beyond one moment of incredible and nine instances of just okay. I wanted it to be something that really connected with me, someone who's persona non grata, someone who's outside power-pop, Polyvinyl, and the like. One thing I can say in favor of Audible is their choice of natural drumming. There's a good amount of material here that could have been accomplished with the presently fashionable trend of incorporating a drum machine, but the little flourishes and tight pacing of having a real person instead of a robot add a nice depth and direction to songs like "October Song" and "Sound Makes a Circle." Fans of Polyvinyl's other bands, such as label staples Rilo Kiley and Of Montreal, may enjoy this music quite a bit, and maybe that's exactly what the band wants, but I think Audible is treading ground that'd already been tread on not only by their labelmates, but a lot of the larger music scene in general. |