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AlbumREVIEWS: 'Live' by Sweaters
During the mid-2000s jangle pop scene, Sweaters managed only a few releases and shows before seemingly vanishing from the scene
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During the mid-2000s jangle pop scene, Sweaters managed only a few releases and shows before seemingly vanishing from the scene. Their unexpected return to the music scene is a humble one, marked with the release of a live album titled none-too-originally Live on rising independent label Anoa Records.
Recorded during a performance in Singapore, as part of the 'We Are Pop' tour with peers Dear Nancy and Ballads of the Cliché, Live is a celebratory documentation of a band that wrote and recorded a good amount of pleasant indie pop tunes during their short life span (they plan on resuming their career now).
The production is surprisingly presentable, especially considering how few Indonesian acts ' certainly ones from the indie genre ' actually release live records. It's not great, mind you, but all the proverbial ticks confirming to listeners that the band is genually playing live are present; loose rhythms, slaty vocals, and small mistakes here and there.
The lack of bass is the only true pity here, robbing a few songs of underlying rhythms and melodic turns.
Whether or not any of the songs hit you in the right spot depends on your propensity towards British Pop-tinged deliveries. Sweaters' sound wholly represents the kind of sonic appropriation that was the norm of their era; faux British accents, a guitar that is picked rather than strummed, hazy melodic lines and an overall presentation that aims for London suave but veers more closely toward lackadaisically drowsy.
Sweaters do well enough writing mildly catchy Britpop but there is a sense of urgency to their writing that this live recording captures strongly. The songs hint at playfulness but often feel sluggishly executed, with a tendency for the dreamy overtaking any evocative emotion one may hope to grasp onto.
The two covers performed in their 10 song set attest to this. 'Desire', a song by local indie pop outfit Pure Saturday, loses its melancholy through porpoise-paced martial rhythms while their version of a well-known track by British shoe-gazing legends Ride, 'Vapor Trail', is too loose to justify is inclusion.
The band fares better when performing their own tunes, if only slightly. Mostly mid-tempo, there is at least a sense of comfort in the drowsy delivery.
'When We're Down' is a good Sunday morning drive track with a daydream chorus, while 'Silver Sky' is energetic baroque indie with flashes of 1950s Pop roaming through its three minute length.
'25 Dazzling Stars' is another beat-filled track that delivers jumpy rhythms and a discernible refrain. The song's phaser-tinged crescendo is one of the album's freeing moments, a moment when the band manages to let loose. 'Some Things Are Left Unsaid' retains that spirit ' at least instrumentally ' with chorus-y strums and melodic guitar hooks.
The novelty of Live doesn't do much in transcending album drawbacks. The ingredients are seemingly all there but the songs ' as old as they are ' feel as if they could have used a little additional honing.
The stage was a chance to re-craft these tracks into something more fitting for a live performance. Alas, few of these live tracks feel at all lively. Nonetheless, though it is not the most qualified release of late, this is a welcome attempt at a comeback and effort should be encouraged.
