Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow

Sea When Absent

Label: Lefse Records Release Date: 04/08/2014

97068
thats-incentive by Joe Goggins August 4th, 2014

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - presumably named after some work of science fiction, rather than a real-world event - have largely flown under the radar since forming in Philadelphia in 2006. On closer inspection, that’s really quite strange; over the past few years, plenty of bands have taken their cues from the freewheeling guitars of, say, Pavement, done precisely nothing new with them, and still enjoyed plenty of acclaim from the critics (Parquet Courts spring to mind...). Similarly, when Yuck plundered the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. on their self-titled debut, their brazen lack of originality didn’t seem to count against them. When a band like A Sunny Day in Glasgow takes those kinds of influences and runs with them, though - and does something genuinely new with them in the process - it kind of feels as if nobody wants to know.

It was on the superb Ashes Grammar back in 2009 that they really got a hold on the sound that’s defined them ever since; those ringing, effects-laden guitars that seem to kind of bleed into each other form the bedrock, augmented by crashing percussion and dreamy vocals from either Jen Goma or Annie Fredrickson that seem to just drift in and out of the soundscape. In places, that album threatened to float a little too far away for its own good, and on Sea When Absent, it seems as if they’ve taken preventative steps to avoid flirting with the same danger again. Opener ‘Bye Bye, Big Ocean (The End)’ sets the tone, in that regard, allowing for washed-out riffs to crash over a busy sonic landscape and yet, all the while, feeling tight, controlled, with the melodies the real driving force throughout.

There’s an irony to that, too, given the fact that the process of producing Sea When Absent was the most fractured yet for the band, with the disparate geography of their members meaning that they had to piece it together via email; at no point in the recording was the entire lineup in the same room together. You can still pick that out, of course, but it’s more in terms of the diversity of the songs on the record, rather than the actual sound of the tracks themselves; ‘MTLOV (Minor Keys)’, for instance, seems to suggest that Goma brought her experience from contributing vocals to the latest Pains of Being Pure at Heart record to the table. As on that album, which is utterly pristine throughout, ‘MTLOV’ has her voice front and centre, with clean guitar lines and gentle synth backing her up. ‘The Things They Do to Me’, meanwhile, is a slow burner; the guitars simmer alongside some eccentric electronic work, collapsing at neatly-arranged intervals into the kind of melodic chiming that characterises the output of Wild Nothing and DIIV, before bringing Goma’s vocals fluttering back into the mix.

What’s really remarkable about Sea When Absent isn’t just the manner in which it keeps this cornucopia of styles together, though; it’s the fact that these songs, which at times have so much going on that they border on dizzying, also work just fine as sun-drenched pop fare, washing over you unobtrusively with their woozy hooks and unerringly joyous outlook. It’s for precisely that reason, in fact, that this album makes a compellingly strong case for the title of the year’s finest alt-pop record; whilst so many hazy albums of this kind struggle to engage on a level beyond superficiality, Sea When Absent - if you’re willing to genuinely invest in it - throws up a plethora of fresh subtleties with every listen. Why can’t every pop band be this thoughtful?

Album Stream

![97068](http://dis.resized.images.s3.amazonaws.com/540x310/97068.jpeg)
  • 8
    Joe Goggins's Score
  • 3
    User Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees


  • A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash



Left-arrow

Charlie Simpson

Long Road Home

Mobback
97067
97069

Grumbling Fur

Preternaturals

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136

    Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
  • Festival Review


    25 years of SPOT Festival: DiS Picks Its Best 11

  • 106134
MORE


    Interview


    Interview: Bjork talks piracy, punk, Lady Gaga ...

  • 79700
  • review


    Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

  • 95999

    Interview


    With Nile and I: DiS meets Nile Rodgers

  • 98023
  • review


    Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

  • 55003

    news


    The DiS Community's... 101 Favourite Albums

  • 85886
  • feature


    Panic Prevention: At the drink with Jamie T

  • 14183

    Staff-generated


    Reviewed: Shut Up And Play the Hits a documenta...

  • 83336
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2023 DROWNED IN SOUND