Can you imagine Minus The Bear copulating with Cap'n Jazz? No? Then listen to Native and you'll have an idea. This (very) young four-piece band from Indiana, USA is the happy medium between These Arms Are Snakes and Russian Circles.
Native have something different. First, there's something special with the way vocalist Bobby Markos sings, half-yelling, half-speaking, which makes you feel like he is reading to you and makes the lyrics stand out. It has a very screamo feeling, not in the way he actually screams (he doesn't really), but in his vocal dynamics. The vocals are quite different from their acclaimed EP 'We delete; erase', as you can hear the singer much better when there aren't effects on his voice. I pretty much think Native's vocals are a hit or miss. Personally, I like it that way. It's not the only difference with their previous material, indeed 'Wrestling moves' is much more progressive. The sing-alongs are gone to make way for structure-less, complex compositions, even if a few small, sensible off-mic gang vocals are still here ('Members list'). There's a lot of energy in the approach that makes the band sound post-hardcore on a few songs ('Ponyboy') but it is yet controlled throughout the entire record. Energetic drums ('Backseat crew') are often providing memorable moments when accompanied by anxious guitars ('Marco Polo'). What impresses the most is that you never really know what to expect from the next song and it's quite rare for a band created only two years ago. The central piece of 'Wrestling moves', 'Five year payoff', is a slow, progressive and powerful song about the creation of the band and this album; it also features some of the record's finest lyrics: "These verses show readers the pictures of history / Words will age but never will fade". I didn't mention it yet, but Bobby Markos's songwriting is also captivating and surprisingly mature for a man in his early 20's. They seem to do everything right or very well, whether it be walking in the footsteps of These Arms Are Snakes (which drummer produced the album) with sober yet powerful compositions or setting up a somber, floating atmosphere in a few notes. There even are entire instrumental tracks ('Mason Jars', 'Pocket jingle') on 'Wrestling moves' and the five-minute long 'Marco Polo' only features two-line screams in its last minute.
Sargent House has a way with tracking down bands that sound like no other. Native's 'Wrestling moves' is more than a simple indie album. It's a mix of indie with math rock, post-hardcore and progressive rock. There's also a minimalist touch a la Foals. It is quite unique, to be honest. Anyway, the songs are linked together in a beautiful way and you honestly don't see them passing by. If you're very fond of this type of releases, you'll seriously find this one mind-blowing.
4/5
Recommanded if you like:
These Arms Are Snakes, Minus The Bear, Algernon Cadwallader
Check also:
The Reptilian, Street Smart Cyclist, Snowing
These Arms Are Snakes, Minus The Bear, Algernon Cadwallader
Check also:
The Reptilian, Street Smart Cyclist, Snowing
J'adoooooore ce disque !
ReplyDeleteJolie chronique ! :)
This is so harsh from you ro !
ReplyDeleteYour review made me wanting to listen this cd right away but i can't find it on... hum... certain networks !
I neeeeeed it è_é
to* this cd
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ReplyDeleteThe album is underdeveloped and a weak link when compared to other Sargent House releases. This record shows that Native can sure play a lot of shows with six songs in two years, but in that time, there has not been much creative growth. I can’t say with certainty that they haven’t written many songs, but I’ve seen them several times and I never heard them perform any of the songs on “Wrestling Moves” (or any other material, for that matter) until after they had recorded them. This tells me that before SH’s push for a new Native release, they had only written (maybe) 6 songs. Then, without writing and slowly developing new material through performance and time, the band was pushed into writing and recording a full-length release on a limiting schedule. Only further releases will tell if this band is capable of developing its compositional voice. The group’s harmonic language seems to be limited to simple chordal movement, never straying far from the piece’s key center. The guitarists seem complacent enough to fill instrumental passages with accented, sustained unisons that follow a generally mundane, unoriginal, rhythmically constricted harmonic progression. Repetitious, tacky tapping pull-offs that permeate throughout the genre solidifies Native’s mimicry of already established SH artists. Of course kids love the head-bob-inducing backbeats that plague every one of Native’s tracks and I think this allows relatively unimaginative pitched material to go unnoticed. The bass parts also leave much to be desired. Redundant and harmonically simplistic motives, namely following root motion without much rhythmic diversity only feeds the animal that my iPod-induced musical ADD has become. Vocals are a sore subject. They rudely destroy the aesthetic, an overall sound Native has borrowed from other SH artists (you probably know which ones). Indeterminably pitched vocals (yells, screams, etc.) are used successfully throughout the umbrella of music with typical rock instrumentation. For Native, the monotone deliveries that remain rhythmically and stylistically static song to song represent the band’s biggest weakness. The only thing moving in a positive direction for Native’s music has nothing to do with their compositions. An obvious financial supplement from SH for “Wrestling Moves” allowed the band access to expertise and a studio capable of producing high quality recordings. However, the well constructed sound of the record cannot hide apparent compositional immaturity. It seems that Native has fallen into a comfort zone defined by their musical inexperience. Redundancy is the bane of Native’s writing. I would expect something better from Sargent House. This overly consistent pattern might attract some listeners but I can tell you they certainly aren’t holding my interest.
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