The subject of much damning faint praise for being either out-dated Indie chancers or “Post-Grunge” failures over the past five years, it seems SEAFOOD are long overdue some credit for intelligence and invention.
Because last year’s “When Do We Start Fighting?” – now re-issued with an additional 6-track EP of demos and radio sessions entitled “Coursework” – proffers more than enough confidently gritty nuggets to outshine those who believe our American cousins have cordoned off noisy pop crossover incidents and told the rest of us to move along.
More about that in a moment, but first a note about “Coursework.” Well, it’s certainly a worthy addition to SEAFOOD’s canon in itself, offering versions of songs like “Cloaking” from the parent LP that actually out-raunch the finished versions (check out the unhinged way David Line sings: “You’ve got your head screwed on!” – cool) and a couple of great “EVENING SESSIONS” blasts: not least “Porchlight”, which goes through myriad tempo changes before taking a fully-clothed dip into SONIC YOUTH’s noise bath towards the end. Coruscating, I think you’d call it.
Back to the album proper, it’s a fair comment that SEAFOOD do sound considerably more Transatlantic than many of their compatriots, and the fact that “When Do We Start Fighting?” was teased out of them in New York with GIRLS AGAINST BOYS’ ELI JANNEY at the controls is surely significant.
But, like so fucken what? In the way it’s good to include phrases like “NOT BROKEN” and “DON’T FIX IT” in the same sentence, JANNEY’s done a good job in bringing this Uxbridge/ Guildford quartet’s unadorned rock aspirations to the fore, with songs like “Cloaking”, “Western Battle” and “Similar Assassins” twisting gleaming new shapes out of ye olde quiet/ loud dynamics.
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However, SEAFOOD really fire up the imagination when they take a trip off their urgent, linear pop path. Both versions of “In This Light Will You Fight Me?” offset drummer Caroline Banks’ mantra-like vocals against screeing, expectant guitars and reins in the heavy sonic artillery until after the three-minute mark. Meanwhile, both “What May Be The Oldest” and “People Are Underestimated” are atmospheric, harmony-stuffed diversions and – maybe best of all – the closing “He Collects Dust”: a notable departure, pitting a gentle, pastoral backdrop against whispered threats that remind of HOWE GELB’S creepy, desert-parched musings, before midway a huge flying saucer of feedback threatens to envelop it before falling away again. Initially you’re disorientated, but definitely wanna try it again.
On the negative side, an apparently compulsory adherence to too many Math Rock tempo changes can grate after a while, undermining songs like “Similar Assassins” and “Splinter” that would otherwise be rendered quite glorious.
Nonetheless, “When Do We Start Fighting?” acquits itself admirably in a world currently smitten with over-rated Emo schlocks like JIMMY EAT WORLD (depressingly, SEAFOOD have supported them) and shows that SEAFOOD present tasty platters du jour rather than reheated leftovers any day of the week.
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