Review Summary: At times The Sand Band fall off the tightrope into the feudal land where atmosphere is king and melody is nothing but a lowly serf. Have faith, though, there is promise here.
They say there’s a special rung in hell for those who waste a good sound--or is that scotch? Certainly those who’ve heard a band with a good atmosphere but terrible songwriting can attest to this. Atmospheric bands live within a peculiar balance, after all. To the extreme lies the glutton of post-rock acts and bad ambient projects that rely so heavily on the atmosphere of their music they forget to write anything worthwhile to convey with it. Such mundane, plodding records stem from the over reliance on that oh-so-precious-chord-change that haunts even the best of intentions. However, those that are successful in this field--ranging from the earliest explorers of timber like Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar, to more contemporary figures such as Godspeed You Black Emperor and Stars of the Lid--have a keen sense of the tightrope they walk and play Man on a Wire well. So when The Sand Band drench their songs with reverb, they need to be well aware of this balance.
Led by chief songwriters David McDonnell and Scott Marmion, this up and coming group from Liverpool use the foundational (or foundationless) space where ladies-and-gentlemen-we’re-floating-somewhere-in-a-dark-void to build their folk rock love songs around. Certainly taking a page from psychedelic forbearers, the atmosphere on
All Through the Night, the band’s sophomore release, is lush and pretty. It’s this lushness that adds an element to some of the duller moments on the album, which tends to come in waves with three of the tracks split into two part suites. Only the finale of the album succeeds with this format; “If This is Where It Ends / Outro” segues from a chilled out strum to a spoken word sample from a sleep aid that is backed by prettily chiming guitars. “Open Your Wings / Interlude”, however, fares worse than the album closer as the second half drags the album to a halt at its midpoint. As a creative writing professor once told me, “it’s like littering your streets with obtrusive garbage. The more you’re slowed down on the narrative path, the less you pay attention.”
Such a proverbial rock in the road is rather unfortunate because until that point
All Through The Night was building itself into a bit of a force. The band seemed to have struck that right balance between atmospheric histrionics and stripped down, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young inspired folk rock. In so many words, the band has a gestating knack for songwriting, for writing the precious melodies that their sound promises are held within. The Cherry Ghost vibe of opener “Set Me Free” welcomes the listener easily; a temptation, almost. Even the all-too-familiar chord progression of “The Gift & The Curse” is given extra punch with the introduction of keys, “oohing” back up vocals, and appropriately dark lyrics lamenting the follies of love. “Wish I could reverse, and give them the curse”, bemoans McDonnell on the track, following a theme that is well trodden throughout
All Through the Night.
Almost too well trodden; the band tends to lack strong ideas at key moments, particularly with the lengthier, more adventurous tracks. At times they fall off the tightrope into the feudal land where atmosphere is king and melody is nothing but a lowly serf, toiling forever as a replaceable necessity.
All Through the Night, then, doesn’t exactly deliver on the promise that it seduces us in with on the opening half of the record. But the important thing to remember is that there
is promise in here and The Sand Band are still in an incubating period. Like any band worthwhile beyond a one-off debut, these young lads from the Merseyside have to walk before they run. It’s best to follow the advice of the spoken word outro and, relax, sit back, and rest. Let the album wash over you--take its flaws with a grain of salt. You’ll enjoy it all the more if you do.
