Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Grand Archives: Swan Matches
There are albums which, if you never hear, you probably can ignore and live happily without. For those who hear them however they become a private passion.
I can't imagine my life without a regular blast of the Dwight Twilley Band or Neil Halstead's Sleeping on Roads.
This debut album is like that: it breaks no particular boundaries and nor does it sets off on any original path. In fact the autumnal country-pop here owes debts all over the place (Poco, Moody Blues, Californian singer-songwriters of the 70s, the brighter and lighter side of 90s Britpop etc) and yet it possesses a certain magical something.
The odd thing is this comes from a band out of damp Seattle (singer-songwriter Mat Brooke was in Band of Horses) yet when they lope in to the dubby instrumental Breezy No Breezy or pull out the gently chiming guitars and harmony vocals they put a smile on your face and in mind of much warmer climes.
It isn't all mellow by any means and The Crime Window is widescreen power-pop of the finest kind with a chanting chorus.
Yes, you can quite happily live your life in absolute ignorance of this band and album, but I'm very glad I'm not.
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