We Are Augustines are a three piece band from New York who play a kind of scuzzy indie rock with the classicist mentality of early peers from the glory days of college rock. This, their debut album, is the result of a recording process which was fraught with difficulties and on paper sounds like a good prospect.
Whilst it is a good album in parts, ‘Rise Ye Sunken Ships’ seems to suffer from what I call Cold War Kids Syndrome. Each song has its merits but end up getting lost in their own ideas. The resultant album is one that seems overlong and essentially unsatisfying which is a shame as when it is good it is really good.
It all starts off chirpily enough with ‘Chapel Song’ and ‘Augustine’ (which oddly enough sounds like Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’) and then it starts to lose its way. Each song blends into the next with no clear difference in sound. It is only when we get to the superb Juarez that things take off for the band. With its lyrical imagery mixing in Catholicism and escaping to Mexico it is a rousing singalong etched with whiskey soaked vocals. The following track Philadelphia (‘City of Brotherly Love’) continues this new vein of excitement in the music and is worth the admission price alone.
Unfortunately this high cannot last and the album then sinks into its own worthiness again. For a three piece band it sounds like there is too much going on in the music and drowns out any individual ideas. Songs such as ‘Patton State Hospital’ and ‘Strange Days’ pass you by and it is only when we get to ballad ‘Barrel of Leaves’ that we can once again glimpse a possible greatness in this band.
Whilst it is not a bad album by a long shot (moments of it are superb) We Are Augustines may want to think about toning the wall of sound down and concentrating on getting the individual melodies across next time. For a debut album it is certainly self-assured and demonstrates the talent at work here. Given time We Are Augustines could rise to the upper echelons of American indie rock and join the likes of The National. For the meantime though, enjoy an album which shows a band fighting to find their sound.
Released March 05 2012 through Oxcart Records
Posted by Martyn Coppack
