The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion
'Tane Mahuta' and 'Oh Mojave', which sound as if they were born in Hawaii and Mexico respectively, are delivered with a clarity the rest of the record is crying out for.
'Sea Lion' is the second album from New Zealand group The Ruby Suns. Sitting somewhere between The Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and Calexico, the group combine musical eccentricity with an indie-pop leaning to create a eclectic though somewhat muddled sound which is hard to pin down. The record certainly draws upon many different styles, often within the same track. Both opener 'Morning Sun' and 'Kenya Dig It?', for example, have distinct phases throughout their duration, whereby the band change from chilled out electronica to 80s New Wave without warning or reason.
This lack of cohesion, rather than being endearing, is in fact the record's major flaw. The band fling in many disparate ingredients, when perhaps they would be best advised to stick to their strengths. 'Morning Sun' includes a brilliant New Order style final section, but this is tarnished by the first half of the song, which consists of off-key singing and prog-rock sound effects. This happens far too often where a good idea is not taken far enough and is instead polluted by pointless distractions.
It is in the album's middle section where this loss of direction seems to occur most, on tracks such as 'Ole Rinka' and 'This Adventure Tour'. The main influence here is clearly the hippy eccentricity of The Flaming Lips, which in itself can prove repetitive and bland. However, this is accentuated by the band's insistence on throwing in additional 'kooky' instrumentation for which there is simply no need.
Unsurprisingly, the album's highlights are those tracks which resist this urge to diversify. 'Tane Mahuta' and 'Oh Mojave', which sound as if they were born in Hawaii and Mexico respectively, are delivered with a clarity that the rest of the record is crying out for. Simplicity here is king; putting aside the urge to fuse too many styles, the band focus on acoustic guitars and vocal harmony chanting, which ends up sounding like a glorious Latin festival. Indeed of the many styles they attempt, the central American influence is the one they pull-off with the greatest skill.
The albums finale 'Blue Penguin' also has a laid back Latin presence at its heart, but again it is pulled down by its opening and concluding sections which consists of random whooshes, swirls and only the occasional guitar. Overall 'Sea Lion' is a slightly misguided album and it can be difficult to escape the sense that its random musical decisions are not driven by the lack of a guiding vision - it is eclecticism for its own sake. This is unfortunate as the record shows hints of the band's potential if they can just distill the the essence of their musical vision.
Subscribe to the Clickmusic News Feed
