Album: The Cradle
Year: 2010
Style: Indie Rock, Alternative
Similar Bands: Modest Mouse, Walkmen, Broken Social Scene, Dismemberment Plan, Cursive
"One-Word" Review: Sad-Bastard-Alterna-Prog
Based Out Of: Jackson, Mississippi
Label: New Fear, Dualtone
The Cradle - Cover, Back, CD
The Cradle - Inside & Tray
The Cradle (2010)
- 8 Years 3:37
- Our Names 5:27
- Heartbeat 3:07
- The Cradle 3:05
- Everything Is The Same 4:35
- She Don't Talk 4:43
- Each Works 3:59
- Mona Lisa 4:04
- Brought To Life 5:07
- Reno 6:02
Album Rating (1-10): 5.5
Members & Other Bands:
Jesse Coppenbarger - Vox, Guitars, Keys (Fletcher)
Sean Kirkpatrick - Guitars, Vox (Fletcher)
Daniel Davidson - Drums, Percussion (Norma Jean)
Brooks Tipton - Keys (Unwed Sailor, Bear Colony, Black Pond)
Hank Sullivant - Bass, Producer (The Whigs)
Alex Hornbake - Engineer
Clay Jones - Mixing
John Golden - Mastering
Louise Hviid - Vox
Matt Govaere - Art Direction & Design
Robert Lenz - Art Direction & Design
Joshua Burwell - Interior Illustrations
Unknown-ness: I've seen the band's name around before, but I've never heard them. I interpret them to be some ultra hipster band with droning sound (because of the thickness of the abstract cover artwork and use of the word revolt in the band name). I got this CD to see what they sound like, as it was a free cast off at work. I'll have to take note of the "dirty track" #1.
Album Review: “8 Years” is a story, so I’ve read, about the dead end future of a struggling band. The vocals are partially sung/partially spoken over progressive driving music. The moaning in the chorus is more annoying than interesting. The music is slightly disjointed with its anti-parallel guitars. It is like a bad version of Dismemberment Plan. The end of the track adds an emo-piano hook, just for fun.
“Our Names” begins like a shoe-gazing ballad. The wispy, southern-swampish vocals layer over driving, yet non-threatening drums. The song is continually building, but it does not amount to any big delivery.
“Heartbeat” has a bit of a Cursive feel to it with the vocal’s urgency and the structure of the melody. Musically, it has a lot of starts, stops, pauses, and tempo changes.
“The Cradle” begins with heavy guitars, and reminds me of a Ziggy Stardust intro. The vocals are annoyingly light and weepy; a little bit like Winnne the Pooh. Otherwise it is a straightforward alterna-prog song.
“Everything Is The Same” gets a quiet, meditative start. The song sounds sad, quiet and dreary, and is even sung like a Noah & The Whale song.
“She Don't Talk” begins with a steady hum/ring and fuzzed out grungy guitars. Then the drums pick up and the song blasts off with a poor-man’s version of the Strokes like vocal style. Raspy Emo would be a good definition for this song. There is lots of moaning in the pseudo-chorus. But the instrumental section that follows is kinda nice. It is lead by a good melodic guitar hook, and the stop/start tempo really comes together…but we are then brought back to the Ra-speemo vocals which devolve into more moaning & female lyrics spoken in echo over top.
“Each Works” feels like a late 80’s British adult alternative band like the Trash Can Sinatras or UK wanna-be band The Ocean Blue. But the vocals trend back to Tim Casher of Cursive. The song is light, but complex, and tweaked with that oceanic clean/slick 80’s sound.
“Mona Lisa” brings the album back to loud guitars played in a start/stop whiny manner. The mood the guitars create is heavy and thick, sludgy with a hint of crispness. It has a dirty alternative feel.
“Brought To Life” is initiated with a light angelic mood with the jittery vocals and wispy music. Bombastic drums and crashing chords add a dense feel to the chorus, but the song quickly reverts to the ethereal mood. The song winds down into nothingness
“Reno” continues the haunting, melodic feel. It rocks side to side, with a sense that it is building to something bigger, alas; it gently lets you down, rather than fulfilling any sort of payoff hook. The vocals almost reach a Dogs Die In Hot Cars level of uniqueness, but the song, in general, never rises above mediocrity. The end rises in production, combining driving drums and crunching guitars, and urgent vocals, then as if all the energy is sapped, defeated vocals close out the album.
“Our Names” begins like a shoe-gazing ballad. The wispy, southern-swampish vocals layer over driving, yet non-threatening drums. The song is continually building, but it does not amount to any big delivery.
“Heartbeat” has a bit of a Cursive feel to it with the vocal’s urgency and the structure of the melody. Musically, it has a lot of starts, stops, pauses, and tempo changes.
“The Cradle” begins with heavy guitars, and reminds me of a Ziggy Stardust intro. The vocals are annoyingly light and weepy; a little bit like Winnne the Pooh. Otherwise it is a straightforward alterna-prog song.
“Everything Is The Same” gets a quiet, meditative start. The song sounds sad, quiet and dreary, and is even sung like a Noah & The Whale song.
“She Don't Talk” begins with a steady hum/ring and fuzzed out grungy guitars. Then the drums pick up and the song blasts off with a poor-man’s version of the Strokes like vocal style. Raspy Emo would be a good definition for this song. There is lots of moaning in the pseudo-chorus. But the instrumental section that follows is kinda nice. It is lead by a good melodic guitar hook, and the stop/start tempo really comes together…but we are then brought back to the Ra-speemo vocals which devolve into more moaning & female lyrics spoken in echo over top.
“Each Works” feels like a late 80’s British adult alternative band like the Trash Can Sinatras or UK wanna-be band The Ocean Blue. But the vocals trend back to Tim Casher of Cursive. The song is light, but complex, and tweaked with that oceanic clean/slick 80’s sound.
“Mona Lisa” brings the album back to loud guitars played in a start/stop whiny manner. The mood the guitars create is heavy and thick, sludgy with a hint of crispness. It has a dirty alternative feel.
“Brought To Life” is initiated with a light angelic mood with the jittery vocals and wispy music. Bombastic drums and crashing chords add a dense feel to the chorus, but the song quickly reverts to the ethereal mood. The song winds down into nothingness
“Reno” continues the haunting, melodic feel. It rocks side to side, with a sense that it is building to something bigger, alas; it gently lets you down, rather than fulfilling any sort of payoff hook. The vocals almost reach a Dogs Die In Hot Cars level of uniqueness, but the song, in general, never rises above mediocrity. The end rises in production, combining driving drums and crunching guitars, and urgent vocals, then as if all the energy is sapped, defeated vocals close out the album.
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