Editors'Pick

Garden Window  by  O'Brother
Released: 11/15/2011 |  Label: Triple Crown Records |  Rating: 9

I was introduced to this band by my friends from the Boston band Junius. They had just finished a tour with these guys in the U.S. and were raving about them. Well, I got the record from the guys – Garden Window – the debut from this band with the peculiar name : O'Brother.

There actually seems to be bands making good alternative ( ...as in an actual alternative to the bollocks we are fed via TV and the radio) music these days, you just have to work a little more to find them. Either you find them through luck or word of mouth, it still feels just as good as it used to, to find something that make your bones shake a little bit.

This Atlanta based group has that je ne sais quoi, I can't put my finger on it – all I know is I wanna listen to it. A lot.

At first glance (or rather listen…) this is a band that do not shy away from noise. They sound like a real band, you know. Gritty distorted guitars and real drums, even hints of a little feedback! Oh, joy! These guys turn their amps to 10 and shred, but still retain an almost cryptic weirdness to their sound. There's something more here, and I know this record will grow on me even further. The second you feel you know where they are going, they change it up – go further down, into the quiet when you expect noise and vice versa.

I haven't even mentioned the singer yet. What a voice this man possesses. In an almost eerie resemblance to Jeff Buckley, both in range and ability. He does everything from a quiet croon to deathgrowls on this record, and it never seems forced, never out of place.

This is one of those records I would be foolish to single out tracks on. The record holds together so well, almost perfectly. In what seems like a seamless flow of well balanced noise and calm, I might even say it's like the ebb and flow, Garden Window flows through references like Colour Revolt, mid-era Cave-in, and our very own indie prog rockers – turned dance rockers – Rumble In Rhodos in their more "proggy” moments. All while an almost woolen quality embraces the entire sound, making everything seem a little diffuse. A little hidden. And that's what makes this even better. The willingness to keep things as they are, like they really sound and ultimately imperfect. And it's this very choice elevating this record from simply good to very fucking good indeed.

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