Imagine yourself in a church and just as the organ begins to play the church suddenly sinks underwater and then just as you’re about to panic, you’re saved by a guitar riff that hauls you back to the surface. That’s pretty much the opening 10 seconds to the Aquarena EP from Black Books, a five-piece from Austin, Texas.
What follows on opener ‘Favourite Place’ is a song marked out by a hugely infectious sunlit chorus, which concludes with the wonderful: “I couldn’t breath, you’re exceptional”. A slow methodical drum track should drag the song down, but instead lifts it by making the melody more striking – it’s as if everything is shining a light onto Ross Gilfillan’s gruff-but-golden vocal. There are elements of Soundtrack of Our Lives in the track, and comparisons from this reviewer don’t get much more admirable than that.
Second track ‘White Noise’ opens with a riff that would be at home on a Bond soundtrack. The rest of the band build up around it, taking us to a crescendo before another catchy melody takes us off to a comfortable place under the Texas sun. Indie-pop may not be a description the band approve of, but this is accessible radio-friendly stuff with uplifting choruses.
If a criticism can be drawn, it’s that the four tracks on this EP wouldn’t sound out of place if you heard them 10 years ago. That’s only a big deal if you want it to be. Soaring guitars and anthemic choruses tend to sound great whatever year they were recorded in, and so while it may offer nothing new, it’s doing the familiar exceptionally well.
There’s an underlying ambient noise to ‘Marfa’ that recalls the underwater feeling of the opening (and opens the title of the EP up to further interpretation – kicking back in a pool the size of an arena would be a decent place to listen this). The tone has become more contemplative, and again the track is reminiscent of Soundtrack of Our Lives – with the unmistakable influence of My Morning Jacket also apparent. The vocals are more interesting here – effect laden and with nice harmonies at work. And the structure moves from verse/bridge/chorus to something that seems to flow in parts
towards a touching conclusion.
Closer ‘For All the People’ starts off in a minor key that sets the tone for what follows. The more the track plays out, the more it sounds like it could be Embrace – a band who for a while had a huge fanbase thanks to their moody, epic indie rock. “We did it all for love”, sings Gilfillan. There’s more emotional pulsing through this track – it’s an apt closer and with an album due later this year, the summer of 2013 is set to be a brighter place with Black Books filling the airwaves.
Aquarena EP is out on January 28th.
Review by Kevin Scott.
