Dream
pop as a sub-genre tends to emphasizes mood and atmosphere over songwriting
chops. It’s nice to listen to, but what can the discerning music listener
take from it? Usually, not much. The sub-genre thrived in the early 90s
with UK bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive crafting exquisite
tunes that skillfully balanced mood and melody. Soon a minion of bands
popped up (like The Nightblooms, The Charlottes, and Chapterhouse, among
others) tapping into the source with varying degrees of success.
For
some reason, the sounds of the past resonate with bands of the present.
Perhaps it is a nostalgia trip, a desire to emulate the music that these
bands fell in love with in their younger days. Whatever. The Meeting Places,
a Southern California group, have made a record that harkens back to that
so-called “Shoegazer” collective of the early 90s.
I’m
not going to waste your time; Find Yourself Along The Way is heavy on mood
and light on memorable songs. The Meeting Places invite you to ride along
on their effects pedals to a land of layered guitar atmospherics and self-conscious
vocalizations. The album opens with a reverberating-tremolo guitar that
doesn’t let up for the next forty minutes! Seriously.
Now,
to be fair, the record isn’t entirely mundane. “Same Lies As Yesterday”
is one of the standout tracks. Loaded with reverb, the melody actually
moves, ascending on the chorus with sweetly searing guitar work. “Blur
The Line” and “Wide Awake” also allow the melody to peak through the fog
of that reverb-drenched guitar. These songs actually strive to transcend
the mood (sort of like how The Boo Radleys took the Shoegazer disposition
and mixed it up with experimental pop songwriting) and flirt with true
songcraft.
You
also have to give The Meeting Places credit on “Take To The Sun”, a six-minute,
eleven second epic that vaguely recalls Spiritualized (the press kit points
this out). The song is ambitious and finds the band exhibiting its experimental
streak with sleek psyched-out changes and a distortion-laden ending. It
may not work completely, but, hell, the attempt shows the band is trying
to find its own voice. And Lord knows we need more young bands that fucking
try.
But
there are too many songs like “Freeze Our Stares”, “On Our Own”, “See Through
You”, and “Where You Go” that have been played out by so many bands in
the past that it’s difficult to call it anything but derivative, shopworn,
hackneyed.
Naturally,
if one is inclined towards this sort of music, then kudos. The problem
with Find Yourself Along The Way isn’t the musicianship, but the songwriting.
It’s derivative, by-the-numbers, and ordinary. The press kit points out
each musical touchstone for the songs, and that’s what the record seems
to be: an exercise in “Let’s-do-a-song-like-[insert Shoegazer band name]”.
Yes, there are some decent moments here, but you walk away from each listen
wondering if you heard anything.
Postscript:
Oh yeah, and speaking of that press kit, it makes The Meeting Places out
to be a much better band than they actually are, which, I know, is kind
of the purpose of the press kit/bio. Still, this is one of the worst one-sheeters
I have ever read, it is full of outright lies. The kit claims the vocals
are “self-assured.” They aren’t. They point out “nimble drumming.”
It’s not there. The writer also points out the “trademark, thick, shimmered
coatings of guitar resonance.” That means been-there-done-that-by-a-hundred-other-bands-in-the-past-ten-plus-years.
This kind of embellishment nauseates me, because it goes beyond hyperbole.
Way beyond. Message to The Meeting Places: fire the bio writer.
