photo by Christopher Nazon
The diverse, surprising indie rock palette of "Cabin Fever" by Miami's Seafoam Walls pushes against your chest with a superbly heavy dreaminess, a barrage of dense pulsating guitars, boomy bass, what sounds like synth walls and trip hop shifty beats assault your senses as the vocal countenance bathed in a kind of tubular distortion asks questions.
"tell me, how's your memory? / Are you doing fine? Are you losing your mind? / why is so lengthy? / cut it down to size, then we'll capitalize"
Certain phrasing are punctuated with sonic hammers. The sense is both psychedelic and progressive fusion and when the musical break gets more angular and more massive the song feels more post hardcore in attitude. The color shifting is cool and compelling, the drumming, flailing in combination with the hard rock riffs and bast of sound amp everything up. I dig this a hell of a lot. The tonal shifting, the sense of not know what may lie around the next corner has me thinking of sonic connections that lie somewhere in between artists like TV On The Radio and The Sound of Animals Fighting, or thereabouts.
I look forward to delving into Seafoam Walls sophomore album "Standing Too Close to the Elephant In the Room" to see if my intuitive sense is right or not.
LINER NOTES in Purple:
Singer/songwriter and guitarist Jayan Bertrand, bassist Josh Ewers, electronic drummer Josue Vargas and guitarist Dion Kerr have coined new genre “Caribbean Jazzgaze” to describe their wholly unique combination of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms that is Seafoam Walls.
Their sophomore LP "Standing Too Close to the Elephant In the Room" follows in the footsteps of their debut, released via Thurston Moore's label that drew praise from outlets like Pitchfork, SPIN, Afropunk, Under The Radar, BrooklynVegan, FLOOD, and touring slots with Thurston Moore, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Ruban has been a fan for a long time), and Sam Evian. Helado Negro is also a huge fan.
Their sophomore LP "Standing Too Close to the Elephant In the Room" follows in the footsteps of their debut, released via Thurston Moore's label that drew praise from outlets like Pitchfork, SPIN, Afropunk, Under The Radar, BrooklynVegan, FLOOD, and touring slots with Thurston Moore, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Ruban has been a fan for a long time), and Sam Evian. Helado Negro is also a huge fan.
The album’s title is a metaphor for the often overlooked but significant challenges and complexities that people face in their lives, and a warning about getting caught up in the details at the risk of missing the bigger picture. As Jayan explains, "Everyone has an elephant in the room; an obvious problem in their life that everyone, including the person affected, knowingly looks past. BUT, I say that one is standing too close because the problem is more complex and their vision is too obstructed to see the bigger picture. So viewers are providing skewed perspectives of the same problem. It’s an illustration of the areas in which intersectionality fails to meet."
So cool.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://ssseafoamwalls.bandcamp.com/album/x-s
https://www.instagram.com/seafoamwalls/
https://www.facebook.com/SeafoamWalls
https://x.com/SeafoamWALLS
Singer/songwriter and guitarist Jayan Bertrand, bassist Josh Ewers, electronic drummer Josue Vargas and guitarist Dion Kerr have coined new genre “Caribbean Jazzgaze” to describe their wholly unique combination of jazz, shoegaze, rock, hip-hop, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms that is Seafoam Walls.
Standing Too Close To The Elephant In The Room represents an exciting new chapter for the band. Not only does it showcase Seafoam Walls' evolution as musicians, but it also solidifies their reputation as boundary-pushing artists, inviting the listener to experience their music through a Technicolor mist of experimental influences and instrumentation. Demonstrating their commitment to full artistic autonomy, the band — rounded out by Dion Kerr, Josh Ewers, and Josue Vargas — took on the role of self-producers once again, shaping an album that rewards those who revel in its sweeping soundscapes as it delves deeper into questioning the trappings of modern society and all of the contradictions it entails.
Seafoam Walls, alt rock, indie rock, shoegaze, jazz dips, hip hop, blendo rock, progressive, fusion rock, Miami, "Cabin Fever" (Official Lyric Video), new album "Standing Too Close to the Elephant In the Room",
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