Review Summary: Teetering on the edge of hero worship, we broke the weather may live to become heroes themselves
we broke the weather's self-titled album features such a diversity of sound that its cohesiveness becomes surprising. The jazzy, uptempo reed rock of opener "Through the Wall" is reminiscent of my top album of 2020, The Most's
Of What We Have. Not a bad start, if I do say so myself.
But it's the tail-end synthesizers that propel the earthy and human sound of the opener off into the prog heavens. And from there, the sky's the limit. Follow-up "Rot King" takes on a sound inspired by the recent works of The Dear Hunter (think "Night on the Town"). "Niceberg" sounds like it could be a Thank You Scientist track. "Bellwether" has some strong Fair to Midland vibes both in vocal delivery and its fluttery, folksy ending and playful turn of phrase. "These Old Bones" could find a home on a Haken record somewhere between
The Mountain and
Affinity and pulls in some of the same Fair to Midland flair, topped with enough orchestral instrumentation and synth twists to spin up its own identity.
Depending on your perspective, it might sound like there's a lot of variety there. And there is. Yet there's a layer of cohesiveness in play that understands and adapts to the smorgasbord and ensures that all is in good taste. Though the band occasionally play into the disconnects by allowing the quirk of the pacing and style change to simply resonate, the group usually place a clearly tuned-in shift in tonality and scope toward the end of tracks like the aforementioned "Through the Wall" to bridge a successful transition to the next tune. While it's nothing obsessively polished, it's the right amount of attention to detail that makes a record that could easily fall apart work as a whole.
That level of variety and stylistic influence may also make this sound like sound like an extraordinarily derivative record. There's no denying some will see it that way. But there's something to be said of pulling together strong, easily identifiable influences and delivering memorable tracks that still maintain an independent identity. Sure, at times they teeter on the edge of hero worship, but the blending of influences coated with some more "classically"-minded jazz rock channeled through the brass, reeds, drum, and bass makes for a superior product that forgives any semblance of its forbearers. Besides, catchy hooks both vocal and instrumental will get you bopping your head and singing along to the record long after you've unplugged your headphones. And if that's not what good music is all about, I don't know what is.
