Lullwater’s debut just soars out of the speakers with an urgency many attempt but few manage to sustain. There’s a rage and simmer to opening track ‘Oddline’, cut with melody and seared with strident hard rocking guitar. It’s a sound that is just like we like it – good old fashioned Hard Rock with a modern edge that tips the hat at decades gone by without sounding overtly ‘retro’.
‘New Design’ is more laid back with a ferocious chorus that has the urgency of pop without stepping out of ‘Rock’ mode. It’s the sort of music that made bands like Pearl Jam sound so impressive back in the day, not derivative, strangely familiar; not groundbreaking yet refreshing at the same time. It reminds me in a way of early material by bands like Soul Asylum, with just the right amount of post-punk attitude but with a tint of Southern harmony by way of Blind Melon carefully added to the mix.
While ‘Blind’ is fresh with a hard rock meets punk pop urgency, and ‘The Dream’ reminds me a lot of Collective Soul at their early peak, both are distinctively Lullwater. And above the merely good; songs like ‘Albatross’ shine with Seattle-tinged hard rock meets punk power. It’s a sound that was clearly forged with the best of that early nineties redefinition of rock music in mind, before the dirty word grunge was tagged onto almost anything that moved or wore plaid.
‘Tug of War’ one of the first songs released along with ‘Blind’ is the more interesting of the two and more representative, with lush harmony, yearning lyrics and all of the sway and power you imagine will translate to sheer gold in the live arena.
I enjoyed pretty much every moment of this album, and these days that’s rare enough. But with songs like ‘Tug of War’; ‘Oddline’; ‘Curiosity’ and ‘Walk on By’ this is truly memorable. The band leaves it till last though to offer the coup de grace – ‘Hello’ shows all that this band is and can be. It’s a song that has everything in a glorious thirteen minutes of light, shade, raw power, emotion and wonder. Now that I didn’t expect or even hope for, it’s quite simply breathtaking.
Lots of band I’m sure have a sound like this in mind when they start out; imagining that with the right influences in the mix they will hit sheer gold. Few deliver anything but watered down versions of the full proof bands of the past. Lullwater is the exception and they have crafted something here that will remind you of a lot of bands from Seattle to the South but the difference here is the quality and the vision; and if I’m not mistaken the passion and the will. Stillwater is a band you will want to hear, and one that I imagine we will hear a lot more of in the not too distant future.
