It really bums me out when I read record reviews about bands from Buffalo. They usually begin with something like, "Buffalo, NY, the epitome of hell on Earth. Who would ever want to live there?" or, "Well, *band name* has had plenty of time to write *debut album* since they've been holed up inside all summer because Buffalo is consistently covered with seven inches of snow."
Well, buffaBLOG isn't perpetuating that stereotype. In fact, we love our beautiful city, and for that matter, our unreasonably talented local music scene. I guess I should get to the point - this week I have the pleasure of reviewing I Can See Mountains' new album, Life on a Houseboat. These guys aren't just any local band, they have a record deal with Panic Records. This means that they are bound to get reviews from people who don't live in Buffalo, and I don't think it's fair for them to have to read that little slap in Buffalo's face every time they read one. We're more than just the Bills and the Sabres. And right now in the middle of June, it has been RAINING, not snowing, for the past two weeks and the temperature has been at LEAST 60 degrees every day. Give us a break.
For that matter, ICSM easily has some of the coolest merch I have ever seen (that Ray Charles "I Can't See Mountains" shirt is genius)... and despite occasionally being a revolving door of musicians, the men who have formed ICSM have consistently been offering some of the best punk/pop/indie music from Buffalo's thriving scene. guess it's not really a surprise that their new record, Life on a Houseboat, finds the Mountains crew maturing a little and honing their songwriting into something a little more polished and concise.
Mountains' debut Hope You Never Get It was the kind of raucous, sloppy-in-the-best-kind-of-way punk EP meant for sweaty basement shows and beer-soaked sing alongs. Life on a Houseboat isn't that far off from that, but it does take the rough edges that every fledgling band seems to have and smooths them out a bit. Remember those sloppy but totally endearing debuts from Brand New and Taking Back Sunday way back when? ICSM's evolution is kind of like those groups'. The record starts out strong with "One Mirror, Two Bodies." Everything on Life on a Houseboat is urgent pop punk at its best, and this particular opening track is a perfect example. Gang vocals are everywhere, and most of the lyrics are just thoughts being wondered out loud. Everyone is just flat out yelling, but at the same time, it's very clear that they are all having a good time making noise with their friends. As far as I'm concerned, that's what this album is all about.
"Sea Legs" is bound to be one of our top local songs of the year. This track is solid enough to appeal to even discriminating fans who don't normally like things from the pop-punk vein. This is ICSM at their best - all that really needs to be said are that there are gang vocals galore, coupled with the pure, urgent catharsis oozing out of every chord. Songs like "I Play the Fox" and again, the opener "One Mirror, Two Bodies," showcase ICSM's nimble guitar lines. Usually punk like this is a lot of power chords and jumping around, but Mountains has a way of injecting a bit of intricacy into their songs. It's never enough to take over a song in an annoying way, but, with so many overlapping vocal tracks on this album, it's nice to know that ICSM has some very capable guitarists in their ranks.
I have to mention "Glory." Most of Life on a Houseboat is about the awkwardness of growing up and the profound thoughts we all seem to have at one point or another. "Let's talk about it, I want to be friends with your friends, I want to watch indie movies with you" pretty much sums it up, and that's where this album truly hits home. What single twenty-something doesn't want those things? I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to watch Garden State with some cute indie-chick who liked my band. And even when Mountains calms things down a bit, they never cease to be packed full of emotion. "Sweater Science" could easily be another fast-paced jam but instead ICSM settles for an intricate rolling tom beat and they pull things back just enough to really make things count when they blast back into familiar territory around the two minute mark... But "One Big Table" is the true slow-jam on this album. Even though it's as slow as ICSM gets, it still sounds like a bunch of drunk kids in a room playing around with their instruments.
I've said it a bunch of times in this review already, but I Can See Mountains has released an album full of rowdy sing-alongs. It almost seems like at times, they just yelled randomly until they came up with something that sounded right. That's a compliment by the way, but whether or not that's the case is irrelevant - in their last song, "The Tigers Have Found Me and I Do Not Care," they start out with a spoken word mantra. It's a little bit different from the rest of Mountain's repertoire, but it makes you realize - It doesn't really matter what these songs sound like. ICSM is all about friendship, camaraderie, and growing up... and whether it's a spoken word mantra or atonal drunken yelling, it all gets the same point across.
Forget what everyone else says, take it from ICSM. Buffalo is a great place to spend your twenties.
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