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Oceans Will Rise

The Stills - Oceans Will Rise Audio CD

A fair review of the The Stills "Oceans Will Rise" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Stills reviews here, or go back to the The Stills tabs.

Band: The Stills
Title: Oceans Will Rise
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-08-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Don't Talk Down 2: Snow In California 3: Snakecharming The Masses 4: Being Here 5: Everything I Build 6: Panic 7: Eastern Europe 8: Hands On Fire 9: Dinosaurs 10: I'm With You 11: Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard 12: Statue of Sirens

Very Good Indie Rock With 80's Vocals
I find that much of the musical sound is much more on the 'newer' side, with well-written, well-sung, well-played, and thoughtful songs that are quite good overall. The 80's feel and overtones on this album come mainly from the vocals, which is just an observation and not a negative, a style of sound but not a replication. It's an excellent album, but not a superb one (the superb ranks are very few), good enough to put in your player and just let it run through. . . because all of the songs are good to my ears, some great, which makes it worth owning because so many albums put out these days have only but 2-3 good, or great (or just one!), songs at best and the rest just seem to totally suck. Rather than bore you with my prattle about each track, I suggest you give a listen to the samples provided here on amazon and then buy the cd or download the album.

Truly a great album
Since I haven't spun Logic yet, maybe that's why I can genuinely appreciate this album in a vacuum. I'm relatively new to The Stills and I heard this album before the other two. Well, I am currently listening to WF and I like WF too. But Oceans is much catchier, I can hear hints of bands such as Dredg and even AFI and Funeral For A Friend, which is fine with me. Tim and Dave's voices are both nice, it's hard to tell the difference most of the time.

It reminds me of the situation that Funeral For A Friend went through. They changed their style completely on their current album Tales, and although it's a decent album, compared to their previous work, it's easy to see why it got trashed. .

Davey Just Won't Give It Up

Then came "Without (Feathers) Talent", their second album. I came at the "real" Stills with a large degree of fervor and passion; there was nothing since Joy Division that had struck the same emotional nerve with me that they had. I understand they lost their rythm section, but for Davey to come forward and make a mockery of their music by assuming lead vocals was at least to me, at the time, a hoax. This album proves to me he has not given up on the notion that he may one day be a musician of the same caliber as Tim Fletcher.

Why someone would take a pristine vocalist such as Tim off the mic for a mockery that you could only be a fool to entertain as an being an even remotely amusing atristic expression, and then replace with someone such as yourself that you know couldn't sing if someone had paid you to do so, is beyond me. Congratulations Davey, on taking your garage band to the grave.

The Stlls find themselves and grow
I am a huge fan of both Logic and Without Feathers, however I think all true Stills fans can't even deny that The Stills belong rocking out rather than go in a more organic territory as they did with their second album. So it seems as I believed they would after Without Feathers came out, The Stills have returned to form and better than ever. But what I'm shocked at is how this album is being so negatively received by Stills fans calling them "comprising to mainstreamers. " What is wrong with experimentation of bands? Each time a band does it whether it's The Strokes, Bloc Party, The Stills, it's like all the fans freak out and chant "oh waaah it's just not the same. " Well we all love LWBYH but I want to hear more from The Stills, particularly growth. And what I admire so much from Oceans Will Rise is how amazingly well-fitted the band is in their attempt to make amazing post-punk. It's not that they CAN'T make organic/Shins-esque music well, because there definitely are some good songs on Without Feathers but the Post-Punk arena (maybe even a REAL arena. . . someday) is what they Stills do best and where they simply belong. It is amazing to hear the hints of Logic as well as WF on this album yet it is even greater to hear them sounding so confidently epic all at the same time. Rather than spit out just why each and every song is so great on this album, it's best to look at this album as a truly coherent piece of post-punk genious. Tim Fletcher has by far THE BEST singing voice in the post-punk circuit simply because well. . . . he can. Whether you agree politically with the things that Fletcher sings or not (sadly most of the time I don't) he is one of those singers that can sing with such affecting self-awareness that you believe him and in him nonetheless. And though I was not a fan of them inserting a keyboardist in the mix on WF The Stills find ways to work with their new members in a way that no longer strays toward something that they aren't but instead they MAKE IT do what they want it to do for them. Simply put, Oceans Will Rise is probably one of the best gifts the 2008 music year has to offer and that's saying a lot because there have been some great things to happen. But I believe that finally The Stills know who they are and what they want to be and they are not about to "compromise" that for anyone . . . they are simply doing their best and I can definitely see that Oceans Will Rise is truly a great sign of things to come from The Stills. .

Almost a happy medium of the first two albums
I can see some people being happy that it doesn't sound MORE like "Logic Will Break Your Heart. I can see some people pointing to this as a step back towards the sound of "Logic Will Break Your Heart," at least on certain tracks. " Personally, I loved both "Logic" and "Without Feathers. "

And while "Oceans Will Rise" sounds almost like an amalgam of sounds from those two albums, rest assured that it stands on its own.

Stand outs, to me, include:

"Snow In California" might have been a better choice to open the album and sounds like it could have been a b-side to "Logic. "

"Snakecharming the Masses" is a fantastic song and shows some really inspired songwriting. There's nothing really easy about the progression in this song, yet it still feels natural. They seem to avoid what's expected, though.

"Being Here" is the first single, I believe, and it's easy to see why. Actually, THIS was probably a more obvious first track, but hindsight being 20/20 I think it might have given a false impression of the record. It's a good, catchy tune.

"Everything I Build" is the first definitively somber song on the album and it's a winner. That's actually probably the most distinct part about this record -- the mellow tunes. They're all very good.

"Eastern Europe" is insanely listen-able. In parts it reminds me of the Foo Fighters, in fact. It's just a catchy pop song. It's strut worthy.

"Hands On Fire" is perhaps my favorite song on the album at the moment. It's mellow and catchy and has a good groove.

"Dinosaurs" is yet another mellow song and maintains the quality. That's not to say that these mellow songs move. They do. But they all have a fairly somber tone more fully realized than earlier releases.

"Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard" feels more like a "Without Feathers" tune but, really, it's just a rockin' song.

All in all, good stuff.

You can see a complete list of all The Stills discography, or go back to the The Stills tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.