Review Summary: Expansive and delightfully warm indie-rock
The Appleseed Cast are one of those bands that never quite popped the way they should have. With a discography as consistent as theirs it’s a near tragedy that they’re not at least
someone’s favourite band, but when you hear their music it makes some kind of sense. It’s too undemanding to ever be your favourite music, too relaxed and nonchalant. It’s beautiful, though – beautiful, comforting and welcoming without ever being too nice. If you’re anything like me you’ll find yourself remembering it after a couple of years away and when you go back it’ll be like seeing an old friend’s smile for the first time in forever. Then you’ll move on and forget, as is the way with these things, but while it lasts it’ll sink into you and stay there. If records have a perfect time to be heard, then
Mare Vitalis would be the soundtrack to the early hours of a Sunday morning.
Their debut,
The End of The Ring Wars, is perhaps the most immediate thing they ever put out, but it was with their sophomore record,
Mare Vitalis, that they truly found their feet, producing an easy sprawl of an album; one awash with all the delicate guitar lines and delicious melodies you’ll need for the moment. Christopher Crisci’s voice, though far from note-perfect, swells upon the shore of imperfection that’s just right for the mood of the album, and the lyrics, though generally rather abstract, touch upon melancholy notes which draw you in and carry you along. There are energetic moments, like the bustle of ‘Fishing the Sky’ which skirts between the cheerful drive of Fang Island and the wistful meanderings of Explosions in the Sky, but overall the focus is one of bright-eyed melancholy, that’ll somehow make you feel better about everything.
