Yet another British invasion is upon us. (Has it become an annual event yet?) This year, the one-word bands seeking to take the crown from the last invasion (Supergrass, Travis, Coldplay) and create a name for themselves stateside include South, Elbow and Clinic. This would be fine—we all need a respite from overplayed nu metal and uber-sensitive rockers like Nickelback and Creed—if these bands weren't so derivative of the U.K.'s rock gods of both then and now. How many Radiohead and Beatles clones can there possibly be? (I probably shouldn't ask that.)
That complaint out of the way, From Here On In, the first full-length album from South is full of lavish soundscapes that seep in—and then quickly drift out—of your consciousness. It starts out strong, a flying intro of strings leading us to believe that they may rock harder than their bretheren, and the second track continues that promise, albeit more melodically. "Paint the Silence" is lush, a simple base of clear vocals and acoustic guitar built upon by layers of strings, background vocals, piano, etc.; the line "pain comes in stages" will stick in your head.
Produced (and slightly discovered) by UNKLE's James Lavelle, his influence is apparent on many of the tracks. The songs slide from typically folksy to the slow beats those late-night, post-rave compilations seem to love so (most notably on "Live Between the Lines (Back Again)"). It's this merging genre nonallegiance and complex instrumentation that saves South from complete anonymity among peers. Guitars twang here; vocals drift shoe-gazingly there; otherworldly echoes linger in the background; beats build up to an emotional crescendo; and this is all thrown together so intelligently it transcends the mess it could easily be.
How well it works in comparison to other recent efforts though, it's hard to tell because, yeah, I know I was supposed to drop the complaint about all these bands sounding the same, but how can I when everything is that same brand of mellow? Quiet, pretty, melodic, well crafted and very competent—we've heard it time and again. You have to wonder if they put Valium in kids' school lunches to raise up such polite musicians.
South From Here On In
