The Stratford 4 - The Revolt Against Tired Noises
(Jetset)
The Revolt Against Tired Noises is a pretty gutsy name to give an album. A name like that is just begging for reviewers and music listeners alike to say "Hey, wait, this isn't a revolt against tired noise, this is just more of the same!" And, though The Stratford 4 hardly have a revolutionary sound, they do have an interesting combination of a few old sounds. Generally, as a ...um...ha ha..."writer," I am not to interested in naming bands that sound similar to the release being reviewed, but with The Revolt Against Tired Noises, the references are just too clear that it seems like it would be wrong for me not to mention them.
Seam. Okay, I said it. There are a lot of moments on the album ("Displacer," "All the Fading Stars," and more) where I thought to myself, "Is this the album outtakes from Seam's The Problem With Me?" But, as I said earlier, they don't just sound like Seam, they actually sound like Seam if Sooyoung Park was a lot more light hearted (or less tormented), and if he and the rest of the band were obsessed with 80s shoegaze bands (which I guess would explain the faux British accent on the record as well).
And though I don't think that the mixture of indiepop and shoegaze works exceptionally well on The Revolt Against Tired Noises, there are some moments on the record that are truly wonderful. "All That Damage," the last song on the record, starts with a 7 minute song, similar to the rest of the songs on the album, but morphs into a wonderful structured drone soundscape that is completely captivating and lovely. However, those last 8 minutes alone aren't really enough to salvage the album. Not that the majority of The Revolt Against Tired Noises is bad, it just doesn't have that special something that makes it different from all the other tired mellow pop records being made.
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