The New Year – The New Year

Matt and Bubba Kadane have been releasing records together since 1991, first as Bedhead and now as The New Year. Although spread throughout the US, the band have continued on by passing tapes through musician friends, and meeting up to record and tour. Joined by the likes of Codeine's Chris Brokaw and produced by Steve Albini on this their first album for four years, the band clearly have been moving in the elevated circles of American Alt.Rock for some years.The Kadane’s music has been tagged as slowcore throughout their career, although it is a tag they have frequently objected to. While the muffled half remembered vocals are there, there is a greater sense of urgency here in places as on ‘The Door Opens’ or the fuzzed up ‘ The Idea of You’, so often the drums propelling songs forward. There is none of the hushed beauty of the likes of Low or the Red House Painters on display here. But there is no sense in criticising a band from not fitting a label that they have long rejected. It is much better to criticise them for the startling lack of ideas on display. The angular intro, the speak-singing vocal, the single note guitar line- how many times has Steve Albini recorded a song that sounds like ‘The Door Opens’? Is it technically competent? Yes. Do we need another song that sounds like this? No. Or how about album opener ‘Folio’s’? While some might deem its gently strummed guitar pattern and marching drum intro a slow burning epic, after the four minutes of repetition the pretty motif has worn thin before the vocals come in. With the abundance of artists working on similar structures and themes The New Year fall short on beauty and depth. Sure there is the occasional moment here and there, but on the whole it never really captures the imagination or the attention of the listener, rather drifting in and out of the consciousness.The New Year isn’t a terrible record by any means but when words like ‘competent’ and ‘workman like’ start creeping in to a reviewers head it is usually an indication that something just hasn’t clicked. Perhaps it's because their sound is a peculiarly North American one- with everyman voices intoning every day tales of life falling apart at the seams. Or perhaps it is the brothers familiarity with each other, having played together so often since their days playing in their Wichita Falls home. Whatever the reason, The New Year’s self titled effort is pleasant, rather than affecting. 52% The New Year on Myspace