I’ve always had a soft spot for this band, I think I first saw them in a barn in the Norfolk countryside about four years ago and they played some rather spiffy Spy vs Spy style indie rock. Since then they have developed much more of their own sound, and they are still a quality live band that is well worth seeing. They mix up very mathy guitar sounds with bouncy melodies, so it’s dead easy for me to pin the tail on the mid-period Braid / Giants Chair style donkey. The vocals are sung with a lot of passion and energy, and on opener ‘Hotch Arrow Jamaica’ the part where the singer goes “hey!” and “without knowing, without knowing” is supremely Cap’n Jazz-y. I love the guitar sound this band has, it’s very warm and enticing, just filling the speakers and the DIY sounding production gives it an extra charm that this kind of music needs. ‘The Name A. Love’ is much noisier initially, with screamed vocals and hectic instrumentation that eases off into calmer moments, before bobbling back between the two styles. We end on “Brubeck” which is a tricky instrumental number that is pretty solid but I prefer the songs with vocals because I am like that. Noodly instrumental fiddling always sounds like showing off to me, I suppose it gives you a chance to notice just how spot on the Green Acre is with their instrumentation is though. Crikey.
This is sound as ever, the Green Acre are a muchly underrated / under appreciated band I feel, check this out if 1996 indie/emo is your fetish because you won’t be disappointed.