Labels: No Idea
Review by: Oli Saunders
The fact that Shores have managed to come up with loads of songs this year that are even better than those on ‘Coup De Grace’ is astounding. And the fact that they have so many songs that they couldn’t fit them onto a single LP is even more amazing. There are ten on ‘To Volstead’ so the remaining three have spilled over onto this split (plus there’s a 7” with two cover tracks). But let me say that these are by no means so called b-sides. These are perhaps my favourite out of all of the band’s recordings. The LP is a must buy in my opinion but if you have that and are not all of over this too then there is something wrong with you.
Shores’ side opens in typical fashion: chiming guitars build some atmosphere, then a slow drum beat kicks in, before we are exposed to Brian’s haunting vocals. They’ve studied the slowcore rulebook for sure. The second track is instrumental for the first two minutes. It builds up and makes you wonder where it’s going. A sample then comes in before some minimal vocals, then a nice loud finale. It works very well, and this might actually be my favourite track due to its originality. Turns out this is a Charles The Osprey cover, ha. Song three returns to the more traditional formula, though it’s actually one member of Shores with a member of Charles The Osprey. It sounds exactly like Shores, however (they refer to themselves as Beaches) so all is good.
Charles The Osprey play instrumental experimental rock on the other side. It sounds a bit like Adebisi Shank but without the ridiculous technical bits. I would nod my head to it live and it holds its own, but that’s about all I can say. Their second track is a cover of Shore’s ‘Roux’ and it’s mildly interesting. The third song is more experimental and is one guy from Charles The Osprey and the other dude from Shores. In a parallel universe there’s a girl writing a review on Zollective Cine who loves this side and finds the Shores side a bit dull. So go read that review, maybe in that universe people still like screamo. My overall thoughts in this universe are that this side is okay.
With Codeine set to play a few dates in 2012 and due to have an awesome bunch of reissues released it’s pretty exciting times. But they’ve got serious competitors in Shores; this band are in the same league.
26th December 2011