Early Day Miners - Jefferson at Rest
(Secretly Canadian)
Last year, Pink was collaborating with that lady from 4 Non Blondes. Now she's #1 on TRL with her collaboration with the dude from Rancid. Given these questionable markers in pop culture, it might be about time for an early-to-mid 90's indie rock revival. Not to mention the fact that all this 80's shit is getting annoying.
Early Day Miners' new album, Jefferson at Rest finds them moving away from the (somewhat) sprawling textures of their previous efforts, towards a more straight-forward and understated pop sound. The nagging impression left by every song is that these guys have gotten plenty of use from their Seam records. Which certainly never did anyone any harm. The influence of Seam's Are You Driving Me Crazy? is obvious in the hushed vocals, subtly dynamic guitars and the placid mood that permeates every song. In the second half of "New Holland," singer Dan Burton shares his vocal duties with Erin Houchin, whose frail voice recalls Ida (the sound of their voices intertwining only helps the comparison to Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell of Ida).
While there are plenty of signposts on Jefferson at Rest that point to other bands, Early Day Miners' move is a solid one, and they have carved a place all their own among the best of indie-rock's stalwarts.
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