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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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Small Leaks Sink Ships Until The World Is Happy
Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun
No Sleep Records
Musically proficient and demonstrating mature restraint and subtlety in arrangement, Small Leaks Sink Ships; new one is enticing but not distinctly memorable.
The fierce drum rolls and screeching vocals in “The Best Time Of The Worst Year” beckoned me, only to let me down with unimaginative yet needlessly complicated and ultimately formulaic-to-a-fault arrangements (“Boom, Tap, Crash”). The opening rock opera format of “Dear Dictator” was very catchy and likeable and could have been used to even better device. Instead, the song deviated to an overly simplistic guitar riff and cold vocal barking. I am uncomfortably aware of Small Leaks Sink Ships’ influences: Rush, the Offspring, Failure and The Cure. On tracks like “Shake” and “A Muted Moment,” I see the potential for brilliance--lovely and stripped down, without all the business of jarring and competing instruments, their sound is quite beautiful and sophisticated.
When they slow it down and move into a melodic rock format that showcases their own identity rather than drawing comparisons to their predecessors, then they do make something memorable.
--Vanessa Arce
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