To me, it seems such a shame that such moving music can cause such internal problems within a band. I say this because the first thing I learned about thestringandreturn (before I’d even listened to the disc, nonetheless) was that the band had recently broken up. (By recently, I mean that the post on www.thestringandreturn.com announcing this hadn’t even been up for a full hour yet.) Ugh.

Disheartened, I popped in the CD, figuring that maybe I’d hear something in the mix or in the sound that would make some sense out of the band’s demise. The only thing I got out of that, though, was kicking myself for not knowing about this band sooner so I could have seen them live. Invisible City is a very quiet disc, and while most of the arrangements are fairly simple (2 guitars, bass, drums), the music sounds very complex thanks to the deliberate and emotional delivery of the band. The tracks are vast soundscapes, alternating between softly lulling drones and powerful moments of quiet intensity.

Most of Invisible City is based around a more ‘clean-tone’ guitar sound. The guitar passages that do have some ‘crunch’ do so with a lot of restraint. I kept waiting for a swelling crash of guitars to come in as an obvious resolution to the build-up of a few of the songs, but more often than not, that wall of guitars never came. This adds to the ‘urgent’ feeling of the disc, as the few dirty guitar parts on the album really stand out as meaningful highlights. The vocals add a totally different dimension to the music, coming off like a dreamy Dave Grohl (think “Walking After You”) and turning parts of Invisible City into a very relaxing, almost meditative trance of voice and guitar.

“Flyweight” starts the disc with a circling guitar line that is perfectly coupled with a circling rhythm part. The guitar interaction is remarkable, eventually swelling to louder proportions (although “loud” is a relative term for thestringandreturn). The ‘guitar frenzy’ here is very controlled and well-executed, keeping the theme of the rest of the release. “Locked In” and “Lemon Slice” are intricately beautiful - quiet, yet as moving as any wall of guitars could ever be. “The Rut” can only be described as intense, and even that word doesn’t do the track much justice. “Every Penny” rolls along with a guitar sound that is eerily reminiscent of Sunny Day Real Estate’s “How It Feels To Be Something On,” while “No Good News” utilizes a louder guitar build-up that adds mountains of emotion to the song. “Picture Ends” is built around more excellent rhythm guitar interaction, with hushed vocals that accentuate the mood of the song better than any other on the disc. “Roundworm” closes out the disc with a glimpse into what Television might have sounded like if they’d have been addicted to downers - gentle, rolling rhythm lines lead the track through occasional echoing wails of lead guitar, finally winding down into the silence thestringandreturn originally came forth from.

It’s hard to comment on the individual tracks on Invisible City. They are technically and noticeably different, but the disc is something meant to be listened to in its entirety. Individually, tracks like “Flyweight” and “Picture Ends” are standouts, but they lose some of the emotion and vibe contained within the album as a whole. Considering the lengthy nature of the release (eight tracks, 56:48 running time), nothing here ever drags or gets stale.

This disc is amazing - the tracks are well written, and they’re arranged and performed with the perfect amount of restraint and emotion. For as descriptive and verbose as I always attempt to be, I cannot feasibly do Invisible City any amount of justice in writing. Simply put, this disc is a must-hear.

Delusions Of Adequacy

They come out hard like true fans of Pedro the Lion, so much that they can almost sound like them at times, but then their old shoegaze hats are still on as they pay a bit of homage to Catherine Wheel with some nice blissed out guitar work in some songs.

The Bee’s Knees

This five-piece from Kansas City, Missouri utilizes three guitars, occasional keys, bass, drums, cymbals, and two voices, depending on the song. The sound is definitely somewhat dreamy, and too totally snail paced for me. If you’re into Seam, My Bloody Valentine, Codeine, or Radiohead you might be able to bear more than the first three songs.

Under The Volcano

Easily my favorite band off of an overwhelmingly outstanding label, Sunday Flood are the perfect combination of power and emotion without quite transcending into the more chaotic nature of hardcore. This Wisconsin trio’s second full-length album, the first on Sun Sea Sky, combines themes of loss and frustration along with redemption and hope, and they express them in all-out powerful post-hardcore rock.

There’s clearly an influence from the midwestern emo bands, like Boys Life, Mineral, and others. But Sunday Flood knock it up a few notches, taking those building songs and driving guitars beyond the realm most of those emo bands are willing to go. The first time you hear lead singer Eric Krueger scream, you wonder why he ever sings, but the singing vocals are just as good. And the band is equally comfortable going from the more melodic structures to the all-out intensity in their finest moments.

“Why is Green Grass Like the Mob?” (a question that I don’t think is answered in the song) starts off along the lines of your more powerful emo bands, that is until the screaming starts. “I’ll suffocate; I can’t breathe, I’m drowning. Gone tomorrow, I’ll wait today. This ignorance has got to change,” starts “A Deaf Purple” at one of their most intensely sung moments on Advisory, and quickly, as the guitars blare away, they transcend to emphatic shouts. “Room 237″ is one of the more straight-forward rockers, ala Farewell Bend, but with some fantastic layered and melodic vocals, and they’re shouting/screaming from the get-go on “The Vessel,” one of the most powerful tracks on the album with lyrics like “Explosings in my head - laughing out loud as I bleed to death.”

Starting wih some pretty piano, “I Advise Red” has both the pretty melodic guitar and some serious chugging guitar riffs that make for an interesting mix. By the end, Krueger is screaming his guts out. “Myriad” has some fantastic guitar and bass interplay and really a nice flow, and “Broken Predicate” makes great use of textured guitars and a more anthemic sound. The closer, “Hush Falls,” is one of my favorite tracks, even at under 2 minutes. Quiet and so pretty, it proves the band could get quiet and introspective. I would have liked to hear another quieter track, maybe in the middle to break up the album, but this does make the perfect ending.

Try as I might, I feel like I’m describing your average emo band. Trust me, Sunday Flood is most definitely not your average, run-of-the-mill emo band. Few bands have the sheer intensity and power of this project, whether singing or screaming, and few can do both so well. This is fantastic stuff, the kind of songs that make you wish the album was twice as long.

Delusions Of Adequacy

Sunday Flood have been kicking around Wisconsin for 5 years; with their 3rd album, Advisory, they may finally get some recognition elsewhere. Most of these 12 songs are full of the sort of thick, driving, crunching rock that made “melodic hardcore” and “emotional hardcore” buzzwords back in the mid-’ 90s. Granted, the mid-’ 90s are behind us, and with so many bands playing in the genre now, it’s impossible to stand out as truly unique. Fortunately, Sunday Flood have progressed to the point where style and execution more than compensate for it. Primary vocalist Eric Krueger can be sweet and melodic (and he carries a tune better than 95% of all the indie-rock singers in the world), but isn’t afraid to punctuate the song with a throat-ripping scream here and there. When guitarist Mike Allen isn’t playing catchy U2-like guitar leads, he occasionally steps up to the mic with an abrasive voice that nicely complements Eric’s. Drummer Kevin Ritzke holds it all together with rhythms that are both disciplined and ferocious. Not too many bands in this scene even stay together for five years, so it’s quite an achievement that Sunday Flood have just now recorded their best album yet. Their methods may be tried and true, but the quality of Advisory should put them at the top of the heap.

Action Man Magazine