Labels: Word Salad
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Ah, I am going to have such a hard time reviewing this record because it’s one of those albums that makes me go all goofy and dumb as it’s so bloody good. It is up there with the Pine and the South in my gushy levels. All 3 bands make me giddy due to the sheer amount of passion and spirit that they seem to pour into their records. None of them sound similar to each other. They just trigger that inexplicable thing where I start running around going “FUCKING LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING BAND!!!!!!!!111111111111”. Nobody takes heed, but who cares. I’m listening, I have headphones on. Time (and anybody else) doesn’t exist.
Ok, on with the lovefest, here is me talking about how the record sounds. Sinaloa play a brand of, um, emo for want of a better word, that you do not encounter very often these days. Simple comparisons that I can lend to you are Kolya, the Van Pelt / the Lapse and the first Vida Blue LP. And “Hello to Goodnight” sounds like Lovesick. Another band with it’s heart in the right place. Anyway, that should put you on the right track. The main musical theme is multiple guys doing urgent talky vocals – it is awesome when all 3 guys get going at the same time, although one guy gets main duties. Sometimes the vocals sound upset and tearful, but throughout they sound poured out from the heart. The music is repetitious, dark and generally difficult to describe! The guitars come in waves and occasionally relent into quieter introspective moments. I also really enjoyed reading the booklet that came with it – it comes with song explanations that repeatedly struck chords with me. I wish more bands wrote song explanations, lyrics can be hard to get behind and I will often find myself not enthused by a bands lyrics because I don’t have a clue what they are getting at. Sinaloa though make my life easier, and I am sure that because I can see where they are coming from that this really makes their music mean that much more to me.
Totally one of my favourite LP’s of the year. Ok. Fawn over. You can come out now.