Hailing from Brooklyn NYC, The Silent League return with their sophomore effort Of Stars & Other Somebodies. Led by Jason Russo, formely of Mercury Rev, the eight piece band have set about making an album of grand proportions. Taking the blueprint from their debut release The Orchestra, Sadly Has Refused, Russo has carved and crafted a musical journey of intimate, confessional songs set to the backdrop of seventies infused soft rock with lush orchestral embellishment and delicate arrangements. It’s by no means an immediate album. In fact, it took me at least five listens before the songs sunk into my psyche. But once there, the music on offer here is simply enchanting. Warming your soul like a gigantic comfort blanket.

The eight musicians here don’t clutter the recording, instead the subtle flourishes of instrumentation each act as a piece to a jigsaw puzzle, with Justin Russo’s delicate and melencholic vocal being the final and vital piece that completes the picture. Album highlight Before You Started, is a gentle meditation, soothing yet incredibly uplifting it could easily have been an album track from Mercury Rev’s classic All Is Dream. This is followed by Let It Roll, which hits the spot nicely in all its soft rock FM glory. Its not all this soft focus melencholy though, Victim Of Aeroplanes sounds like Arcade Fire covering The Band, whilst Out Of Reach rocks out enough to keep things moving along nicely. Attention is lost slightly on the meandering The Tolka Not The Liffy and A Prayer For The Nihilist doesn’t quite hit the mark, the backing of hammond and horns only disguises the fact that its actually just a pretty dull song. These are just a couple of niggles though, there is more than enough to get your teeth into here. The melody in Untied could have come from a Jayhawks album, and the weeping brass in Second Canary Test comes across like a long lost cousin to The Bands’ Unfaithful Servant.

So what was a rather patchy debut, The Silent League now seem comfortable in their own skin and what this album lacks in originality it makes up for in terms of songcraft. Justin Russo really does have a knack for crafting simple, enchanting melodies that wouldn’t work with just an acoustic backing. In fact the beauty of this album is in its orchestration, at times its simply staggering.
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Links
The Silent League [official site] [myspace]
Something In Construction [official site] [myspace]