Hear The Track Here
Having just downloaded Shorthand Phonetics new FanFiction album (all the favourites and then some) I'm about to overdose this month on Soundclick's favourite Indonesian band, this time in partnership with Canadian alternative rock band November Skyline. Can't tell you much about the Canadian end of this partnership but I can tell you loads about Shorthand Phonetics. A couple of years ago I reviewed this bloody awful track from this band and disliked it enormously, even while ruefully admitting that it had a certain presence to it. It was called Whistleblower and it was an apt introduction to a band that was to develop into one of my favourite SC artists. Like them or loathe them, you've got to admit that SP pump out more energy psi than most artists around, especially when they are doing their All Too Platonic/Green Apple Garden type thing...Rough as a bears butt, yes, but nothing like as smelly ;)
Tell ya what, you gotta love the kind of world that allows a bunch of kids in Jakarta to interact with a similar outfit in Canada. Ain't progress grand? The one thing that pokes out at you from the getgo is that is sounds NOTHING like SP, although I think that is probably Ababil Ashari and Alfon Tanoto on vocals. Its a much softer, gentler outlook than the one generally taken by the aforementioned Rowdy Bunch, therefore I'd say it was a safe bet that November Skyline came up with the tunage. Musically, its very much acoustic rock (indie not withstanding) and I'm sure there will be a great many takers for this very likeable, light confection. Oh dear, that doesn't sound promising does it? Well, it IS a bit too light for my tastes but that doesn't stop me appreciating that many other people would think differently.
It's also another side of M Ashari that I long suspected, underneath that brash and extrovert facade, there's a serious musician struggling to get out. Maybe I'm kinda overdosed on 'merican versions of 'rock' right now but The Sweethereafter - as nice and pretty as it was - didn't do anything dramatic with me. Maybe that's because I can't get my mind past the SP stuff I so obviously like, or maybe it's because I just think the arrangement and styling of this track is a bit weak. Can't win 'em all I say, but that's just me and it shouldn't worry you too much if you like pretty, 'sensible' soft rock tunes. btw, I think the vocals could have done with being a bit higher in the mix and maybe a bit more effected??
Pick, pick, pick,pick....
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