It seems the world isn’t as large as most people think it is. Music scenes converge and influence people and musicians alike from all aspects of life. Perth’s Braving the Seabed, with influences ranging from Ida to C-Clamp, clearly define a sound all their own. Like a warm, slow-moving epic, full with violas, vibraphones and slide guitars underpinning what could have been some rather stark songs. There are many things happening at once on the record, but they’re played with a wonderful calm and serenity. The arrangements may be deliberate, but it washes over you in an unhurried, ad hoc sort of way. Brilliantly lazy, sometimes with gentle, off-kilter rhythms and deeply lulling.

Traffic Sounds

This self-titled disc from Australian quartet Braving the Seabed is like walking along an ocean shoreline while holding hands with a lifelong friend. The band creates a quiet, swirling atmosphere that almost perfectly mimics the comfort of a long heart-to-heart talk with a trusted confidant.The key to Braving the Seabed’s warm tones is in the amazing interplay between the band’s guitar players, Kirsty and Mitch (no last names given on the band’s website bio). The soft, lulling guitar sounds create a calming effect, as the melodies and nuances of the songs themselves carry ears through the aural equivalent of rolling hills and valleys.

The disc’s strongest moments come in emotional swells brought on by blossoms of incredible lead guitar work. These swells evolve so subtly from the disc’s dreamy rhythms that it takes multiple listens to fully appreciate how delicate and elaborate the evolution is. Listening to a track like “Walking Across Highrises” is like watching a flower bloom in the spring. At first, the song seems standard enough. Eventually, Kirsty’s angelic vocals glide across the song’s intricate rhythm, slowly gaining in strength and power as the track meanders along. The final two minutes of the song head down a winding soundscape, led by soft and delicate lead guitar that is as powerful as it is beautiful. Eventually, the lead guitar blends itself back in with the rhythm, so that the end of the track finds itself just as unassuming as the beginning.

Experiences like this are repeated throughout the disc. “A Perfect Silence” creates a stark mood, enhanced by a sadly droning slide guitar. Sadness fully sets in when the band instrumentation drops out, leaving a piano and a haunting string section to support the vocals. The guitars quietly chime back in as Rob plaintively complains, “I’m being treated like someone you’d beat on.” “To Sea” builds on a minimal (though pretty) guitar line with more of Kirsty’s cherubic voice, winding and twisting with more amazingly delicate intertwined guitar parts that eventually blend into another softly powerful guitar solo.

Braving the Seabed’s self-titled release falls into a category much like labelmates thestringandreturn. The disc has definite highlights, but the point here is to listen to the disc as one entirely sublime listening experience. The overall effect is breathtaking, with quiet rhythms giving way to emotional guitar swells before fading back again. The highlights of the disc definitely revolve around the band’s amazing lead guitar work, but even those moments lose something when taken out of context from the rest of the disc.

This recording is perfect to put on repeat for those late-night, meaningful conversations. In a perfect world, all thoughts and words would flow as easily as the beauty does from this disc. Braving the Seabed has created a CD that can simply be categorized as “pretty.” This one’s a definite keeper.

Delusions Of Adequacy

Braving The Seabed is a quartet of Perth, Australia. Ou plutôt était, car suite à des changements de personnel, il a adopté désormais le nom de Minor Ache. Or rather was, as a result of personnel changes, it adopted the name of Minor Ache. Braving The Seabed appartient à cette même scène slowcore australienne inconnue ici mais féconde là-bas que des gens comme Sea Life Park, Rebel Astronauts, Light’s Surprising Constancy ou Art of Fighting, déjà célébrés plus tôt avec ferveur et foi en ces pages. Braving The Seabed belongs to the same scene slowcore Australian unknown here but fruitful there that people like Sea Life Park, Rebel Astronauts, Light’s Surprising Constancy or Art of Fighting, already celebrated earlier with fervor and faith in these pages.

Ecouter leur album éponyme c’est comme se prendre un uppercut ouaté en douceur. Listen to their self-titled album is like taking uppercuts ouaté smoothly. Le quatuor boit aux mêmes eaux que les maîtres du genre et se place en quasi-équivalent des Idaho, Codeine, Early Day Miners ou C-Clamp, avec peut-être en plus cette douceur chaleureuse océanienne qu’on ne retrouve nulle part ailleurs sur la terre. The quartet drink the same water as masters of the genre and placed quasi-équivalent of Idaho, Codeine, Early Day Miners or C-Clamp, with perhaps the most gentle warm Oceanian we find nowhere else on earth. Cet album nous vient par l’intermédiaire du label américain SunSeaSky auquel on doit déjà les disques de Aurore Rien ou le fabuleux split-album entre Midsummer et Coastal. This album comes through the American label SunSeaSky where we should already discs Aurore Rien or fabulous split-album between Coastal and Midsummer.

Si Braving The Seabed s’appelle désormais Minor Ache, le groupe n’en est pas non plus à sa première incarnation. If Braving The Seabed Minor Ache is now, the group does not require its first incarnation. Les réels débuts remontent à 1998 où sous le nom de Glimmer, l’essentiel du groupe avait déjà tourné et sorti un disque. The real began in 1998, when under the name of Glimmer, the bulk of the group had already turned and released a CD. Glimmer lui-même s’était construit sur les cendres d’une autre formation, Caterpillar Now, voilà pour la petite histoire et pour montrer qu’une musique comme ça et d’une telle qualité ne peut se construire du jour au lendemain. Glimmer itself was built on the ashes of another formation, Caterpillar Now, here for the story and to show that music like that and of such quality can only be built up overnight.

Le quatuor se compose de Kirsty au chant, à la guitare et au violon, de Rob au chant et à la basse, de Mitch à la guitare et de Marty à la batterie. The quartet is composed of Kirsty voice, guitar and violin, singing and Rob on bass, Mitch on guitar and Marty on drums. L’atmosphère du disque est calme et apaisante quoique régulièrement tendue et passionnée, dans les plus pures lignes de noblesse du slowcore. The atmosphere of the disc is soothing and calm but tense and passionate regularly, in the purest lines nobility of slowcore.

Ce disque est sorti en 2000 mais aujourd’hui, en 2003, il n’a pas encore pris une seule ride et il est plus que temps de l’adopter. This disc was released in 2000, but today, in 2003, it has yet to take a single ride and it is high time to adopt it. On a la sensation à son écoute de trouver ou retrouver un ami, on a l’impression de le connaître déjà, on connaît déjà l’intensité d’intimité qu’on va pouvoir partager avec lui, similaire à celle ressentie avec les disques de Codeine, Idaho ou Sea Life Park. It was the feeling to listen to find or locate a friend, one has the impression of knowing now, we know the intensity of intimacy that we will be able to share with him, similar to that experienced with disc Codeine, Idaho or Sea Life Park. C’est un album qui se déguste en douceur avec lequel on entreprend un long bout de chemin. It is an album that can be enjoyed smooth with which it is undertaking a long long way. Un disque de table de chevet par excellence, ou, peut-être mieux encore un disque de voyage, abonné au discman pour de longues traversées en solitaire ou à deux. A hot bedside table par excellence, or, perhaps better still a hard travel, subscribes to discman for a long voyage solo or two. Le disque de vacances par excellence, histoire de se conserver une bulle intime à travers laquelle brillent paysages et nature. The hard holiday par excellence, history will maintain an intimate bubble through which shine landscapes and nature.

Il ne faut pas non plus s’attendre à ressentir chez Braving The Seabed le même effet exactement que celui distillé dans le slowcore américain, l’Australie est un autre continent et cela infiltre la musique profondément, à un point où l’on peut quasiment parler d’une scène slowcore / post-rock différente et du coup plus précieuse encore à nos oreilles. It should not be expected to feel at Braving The Seabed exactly the same effect as that distilled in the slowcore United States, Australia is another continent, and it permeates the music deeply, to the point where you can almost talk about a scene slowcore / post-coup different and even more valuable to our ears.

‘Tonight is for sleeping’ en introduction est un morceau fabuleux, chanté par Rob. ‘Tonight is for sleeping’ in the introduction is a fabulous song, sung by Rob. Un peu comme se balader en pleine nuit sous les arbres et sous la voie lactée, après une journée de canicule, car le sommeil ne vient pas car la peine et la tristesse nous l’interdisent. A bit like walk in the middle of the night under trees and in the Milky Way, after a day of scorching heat, because sleep is not because the pain and sorrow we prohibit. On erre alors quasiment les larmes aux yeux à la recherche de réponses à l’intérieur de nous-mêmes ou tout du moins d’un peu de répit. It wanders therefore almost with tears in his eyes in the search for answers within ourselves, or at least a little respite. Les étoiles ne sont jamais aussi belles, aussi pure que dans ces moments-là, le vol d’une chauve-souris devient d’un apaisement incroyable, comme un signe du destin qui nous porte quelques réflexions plus loin. The stars are never as good, so pure that in these times, the theft of a bat becomes a calming incredible, as a sign of destiny which leads us some thoughts further. Batterie, basse et guitares sont terribles ici, aussi intenses que chez Codeine ou les Red House Painters. Drums, bass and guitars are terrible here, as intense as Codeine or at the Red House Painters. Le chant de Rob est retenu, un peu à la manière de Idaho, mais perle cependant une certaine chaleur, on entrevoit à travers le timbre de sa voix les grands paysages vides, désertiques et sauvages australiens, une sensation de bout du monde et d’isolement. The song was chosen by Rob, a little in the way of Idaho, but pearl some heat, however, it sees through the timbre of her voice big empty landscapes, and wild Australian desert, feeling side of the world and ” isolation. Chanson énorme. Song enormous.

‘Walking across highrises’ a une intro plus flottante, planante et Kirsty reprend le relais au chant. ‘Walking across highrises’ intro has a more buoyant, planing and Kirsty takes over singing. Il faut quelque temps d’acclimatation à sa voix, moins commune et évidente dans ce genre de musique généralement réservé aux voix masculines. We need some time for acclimatization his voice, the less common and obvious in this kind of music usually reserved for male voices. Mais peu à peu le charme s’installe et le mince filet devient corde vibrante sur laquelle on marche en équilibre précaire. But gradually the charm and settles the trickle becomes a vibrating string on which march precarious balance. On a l’impression de s’élever vers le ciel, les guitares montent et on songe presque à Seam. It seemed to rise to the sky, the guitars up and we think almost Seam. ‘The air between’ poursuit dans la lignée, en un peu plus atmosphérique et rêveur seulement. ‘The air between’ continues in the tradition, a little more air and only dreamer.

Rob retourne au chant sur le très émouvant ‘A Perfect Silence’ qui après un début en pointillés finit par décoller comme une crise de sanglots qui nous submergerait. Rob returns to the song very moving ‘A Perfect Silence’ that after an initial finally dashed off as a crisis of tears we submergerait. Moments forts et bouleversants. Highlights and shocking. Une des pus belles chansons qui soit pour pleurer. One of the beautiful songs that could either cry.

Kirsty au chant sur un ‘the lonesome language’ en ligne droite, à peine animée de quelques courbes où se découpent de nouveaux paysages, mais peu à peu on arrive et dépasse la ligne de faîte et un nouvel horizon se dresse devant nous, quasi saoulant et salué par un beau réveil des guitares. Kirsty singing on ‘the lonesome language’ in a straight line, barely animated curves where a few stand out new landscapes, but little by little we arrive beyond the ridge line and a new horizon lies ahead of us, almost saoulant and greeted by a nice wake-up guitars. ‘Simple’ s’écoute plutôt couché dans l’herbe, somnolant, à regarder quelques nuages blancs traverser le ciel bleu, avec de nouveau une belle montée en puissance progressive, comme si le vent se levait peu à peu et le ciel se chargeait, annonciateur d’un orage imminent qui nous force à nous relever et fuir vers un abri, tandis que les premières grosses gouttes s’abattent sur nos épaules. ‘Simple’ s’écoute rather lying in the grass, somnolant, watching a few white clouds across the blue sky with a beautiful again rise gradually, as if the wind got up slowly and the sky was responsible, a sign of a impending storm that forces us to face and we flee to a shelter, while the first big drops slam on our shoulders.

Rob revient au chant sur ‘mapped out in our thoughts’ et nous replonge directement dans des ambiances nocturnes, à mi-chemin de Idaho et des Early Day Miners. Rob returned to singing on ‘mapped out in our thoughts’ and takes us back into the atmosphere at night, midway through Idaho and Early Day Miners. On passe alors à un ‘To Sea’ un peu plus obscur où Braving The Seabed tourne peut-être pour la première et unique fois de cet album en rond, manquant de possibles envolées. It then goes to a ‘To Sea’ a little more obscure where Braving The Seabed turns perhaps for the first and only time of this album in circles, missing flights possible.

L’album se termine alors sur les neuf minutes trente de ‘nervous/being made out’, deux morceaux enchaînés en forme de diptyque, où Braving The Seabed fait une fois encore preuve de son savoir-faire tout en se développant dans cette australian touch. The album ends on the then thirty nine minutes’ nervous / being made out ‘two pieces chained shaped diptych, where Braving The Seabed is once again demonstrating its expertise while still developing in this Australian touch . Il est probable que le même genre de morceau joué par un groupe américain aurait fini par s’écrouler sur lui-même ou sembler fade mais il y a une sorte de foi exotique qui fait tenir le tout debout ici. It is likely that the same kind of piece played by an American group would eventually collapse on itself, or seem flat but there is a kind of faith that is exotic maintain the standing here.

Cet album éponyme de Braving The Seabed n’est peut-être pas le chef d’œuvre absolu espéré du genre, mais reste un très bon album fortement conseillé à tout fan de slowcore, car les groupe slowcore d’un talent comparable à Braving The Seabed se comptent sur les doigts de la main. This self-titled album from Braving The Seabed may not be the absolute masterpiece of its kind hoped, but still a very good album strongly advised to any fan of slowcore, as the group slowcore a talent comparable to Braving The Seabed can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Pour la petite histoire, le groupe s’est séparé parce que Kirsty et Mitch ont eu des jumeaux et sont restés habiter à Perth, tandis que Rob et Marty se sont installés à Melbourne, à l’autre bout de l’Australie. For the record, the group was separated because Kirsty and Mitch had twins and remained live in Perth, while Rob and Marty have settled in Melbourne, on the other side of Australia. Rob et Marty continuent à jouer sous le nom de Minor Ache, dans la continuité de Braving The Seabed et on peut s’attendre à de grandes choses vu que mes deux morceaux préférés de cet album sont ceux chantés par Rob. Rob and Marty continue to play under the name of Minor Ache, in the continuity of Braving The Seabed and we can expect great things because my two favorite songs of this album are sung by Rob. On vous tiendra au courant. We will keep you informed.

Derives.net

Sometimes weird things happen. Things that no one can explain. You should know that I’m not one of those X-Files or Star Trek guys. I don’t play any of those card games and I don’t have all kinds of Close Encounters paraphernalia. But sometimes weird things happen, like this review thing. Don’t you find that strange? What? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Oh, well when you check out the review for the Hope 12 you’ll know John and I had very similar experiences with similar style music around the same time. You see, sometimes when I get a big stack of CDs I look at the cover of some of them and I try to guess what the band is going to sound like, based on the cover. You may think I am lying, but from the moment I saw this album, I just knew there was going to be a band with sparse vocals and slow meanderings in the various forms of slow rock. Well, I wouldn’t say that’s what I knew in those exact words, but I could definitely tell that there would be male/female vocals flowing like molasses through the cracks of the songs. The cover just felt like that.

So, I find this band to be very enjoyable, very polished sounding in the way that just makes you know the people behind it know their shit. I guess in a lot of ways it is similar to their American label-mates, Sunday Flood. Similar because this is something that I could see coming out on a bigger-volume indie label like Tiger Style or Merge, but different because it’s a bit too aloof to be considered by Capitol, like Sunday Flood could be.

One thing that I didn’t get a feel for from the cover was how hokey it was going to feel listening to it. Most of the record is alluring in that it makes you sympathize with it and makes you want to think it’s good, even if its not. One point where the siren’s lure wears dangerously thin is when Rob’s (we’re on a first name basis) vocals peak in all their nasal anguish above the particularly meandering “A Perfect Silence”.

In the end, I suppose everyday truth is always stranger than the metaphysical and unexplained, and this record is a prime example. More compelling than the obvious psychic bond that John Steinbacher and I had recently is the fact that, even though I don’t really care for this record and neither vocalist can really sing, I wouldn’t totally blow this band off.

Lost At Sea