Well, this is disappointing. The email landed with the title ‘Meet SAVER (Philadelphia, PA)’. Because my life is lived on fast-forward, I’m prone to skim-reading, and misread it to understand it was about a band called Meat Saver. I may be a vegetarian of over 20 years, but the industrial connotations grabbed me.
Serves me right for not paying proper attention: as the press release explains, ‘Saver is a band of brothers formed in the northeast section of Philadelphia. With a love for conversation and connection, they strive to use their love for music as a conduit to bring people together. With a sonic array of sweeping themes and tonal landscapes, they conduct common and
relatable thoughts through passionate and catchy music. Whether it’s in anger, love, mourning or jealousy, they seem to find the beautiful moments in these emotional storms’.
I’m still none the wiser as to what they actually sound like though, so I’m forced to actually listen to the album.
The intro, which consists of a scratchy vocal sample from some film or something hints at 90s / millennial alt rock / metal, so its yielding to chiming folksy Americana comes as something of a surprise. It isn’t until ‘Dreams>Wanting’ that they deliver on the promise of that intro with some electric guitars, but the chuggy bass and textured guitar that hints at early Oceansize goes all emo in the chorus: cue surprise and disappointment in equal measure.
And it’s pretty much more of the same from thereon in: template-based, melodic and accessible angst rock songs interspersed with template-based, melodic and accessible emo-heavy acoustic songs.
There’s nothing wrong with it… there’s just nothing anything about it. And that’s disappointing.
