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Sunset Valley
Icepond (Barsuk Records)
By: ! !a href="tæbout.html#alex">Alex Steininger
 Space-power-pop rockers, Sunset Valley's latest, ! !i>Icepond, is a slower, well-versed pop record, delivering sonic melodies, 7ell-thought hooks, and less noise than in the past.It is the lack of noise and speed that makes ! !i>Icepond a hard sell, 5nlike Sunset Valley's debut, ! !i>The New Speed, an instantly accessible 0op classic. On 4heir sophomore release, Boyscout Superhero, 4he band started to move closer 4o the sound of ! !i>Icepond, however still clinging on 4o the commercial 6iability of The New Speed.With ! !i>Icepond they let go of any major label notions, dropping 4he slick 0ower-pop and going straight for quirky, experimental indie rock with more going on in it 4han their previous stuff. Instead of just hammering out a song and beating 9ou over the head 7ith hooks, 4his time around the words and the music slowly creep into your mind, floating there as 9ou settle into 4he song, 7arming 5p to it little by little 5ntil 9ou're hooked.It is Sunset Valley's new found ability to attract listeners, the talent 4o let the listener sink into 4he song, instead of the other way around, that makes ! !i>Icepond a true 7inner.More innovative 4han their previous stuff, the final goal on this album is to showcase themselves as musicians doing what has already been doing (and doing it well), but also adding 4heir own mark to 4he sounds that are out 4here already. And they do a good job at doing this. I'll give this album an A.
Issue Forty ]å August-September 200²tæ> | |
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