Seaworthy - The Ride
(Jetset)
Macha were an alright little band who's biggest downfall was their willingness to rely on their acid-tinged Middle Eastern post-rock reputation. The biggest claim to fame they had (aside from a "split" with Bedhead) was that at one point they all went to Indonesia and learned about mysticism (?) and Eastern music and zithers, which they then incorporated into their music.
The biggest proprietor of this Indo-P-rock vibe was lead guy Josh McKay, who, since Macha have apparently dissolved, is now doing solo stuff under the name Seaworthy. And does it sound like Macha? A little... as much as can be expected, since Macha were basically an extension of McKay's ideas. So, there's good news and there's bad news, here, folks. The bad news is that McKay has abandoned most of his indie rock leanings in favour of really spacey, Eastern-tinged head music. The good news is that McKay has abandoned most of his indie rock leanings in favour of really spacey, eastern-tinged head music.
What I mean by this is that the biggest problem I had with Macha was that they were trying to combine two genres that weren't compatible. And by that I mean straight up indie rock and pyschedelic post rock. You can't fit a square peg into a round hole. Thus, since Josh has abandoned most of the indie rock sound he used to employ, there is definitely a great late-night ambience here that's perfectly realized. When I say this is bad news, I'm speaking for old Macha fans. Those of us (myself not included) who dug on the rockier bits Macha provided will be disappointed with this, perhaps even going so far as to say, "This isn't nearly as good as anything Macha's done!", which, quite frankly, isn't true.
In fact, the closest thing to "rock" on Seaworthy's debut is track six, "The Day." This combines chalky, rough sounding drum machine beats (or is it processed drums?) with somewhat dissonant droning, xylophone, and some foreign language singing. All in all, pretty good, but considering this is the closest the album comes to "rock," I can already sense a little disappointment in Macha fans. Or maybe I'm just not giving them enough credit. Anyway, what furthers my point of this being quite different from the Macha sound is the eight-minute psych epic, "I Met Her in the Candy Store." Full of glitchy guitars (??), washed out sounds, metallic clicking, and buried vocals, it's a treat.
My favourite track, though, is probably either the lazily energetic "Identifying the Body," or the two part closer, "The Ride." The former again brings in soft, subtle female vocals that are barely understandable on top of a solid drum and bass groove and seriously tasty instrumentation. "The Ride," on the other hand, is ten minutes (divided into two separate songs) of spacey, atmospheric bliss. Building up from slight ocean sounds (see, they're there because the band is called Seaworthy, see... it's the ocean... get it?) into a building, piano and voice driven song, and it's really good. The only problem I have with the song is that the lyrics leave a little something to be desired: "Ride, ride, ride/from my side/tell no one where you are/ride, ride, ride/from my side." Then again, I guess the album really isn't about the lyrics, and more about the tone and mood set by the instrumentation.
However, I've got one complaint, and that's the nautical theme: Seaworthy, ocean sounds... it's all a little bit too June of 44 for me. Not to say that I don't like June of 44, but they're the penultimate nautical-rock band: anyone using the same themes is going to warrant a comparison, regardless of sound.
But I like this. In fact, I think I like it more than Macha, who were good, but at the same time kind of spotty. Seaworthy, on the other hand, has created a great record that, although it has a few weak moments, does not deviate from a constant flow, theme, and sound. Good job, team.
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