I think I've listened to
Hear the Rivers by
Greenleaf for more than the required 3 listens. I'd cautiously suggest 5 times but unfortunately it's hard to tell as the album congealed into a single mass warping time and space around itself until you find yourself communing with a goat. But not in a good way. Maybe this is a symptom of its genre but as
@Coatigan didn't want to get bogged down in a genre discussion I'm finding I have little to say.
I think the band have made the album they wanted to make and they are under no obligation to make am album that I'd like. But sometimes in the absence of something I like it is nice to have something to hate a little. Greenleaf give me neither - like the herbage their name maybe represents it put me in a motivationless unfeeling stupor. Last weeks pop record was edgier than this.
In a different time and place I'd probably have enjoyed this more but in this time and place most of the songs remind me the kind of music youtube creators use as intro's. Particularly the first song Let It Out with it's outrageously cheerful bap bab bap bap bap bap bap rhythm. Other songs feel like their written for a tv show when one of the characters goes to an edgy bar to speak to a drug dealer. Greenleaf are in the corner giving the scene some flavour like Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes but even less edgy.
The lack of edge I think is a symptom of the cultural appropriation of rock by the media elite. I've complained about this a lot recently, particularly on the Ben Folds review, so I won't go over old ground except to say that Greenleaf seem to be willing saboteurs of their own authenticity. See for example their video for Different Horses where lead singer Arvid Hällagård shills for McDonalds and Google. I don't blame them for that and I actually enjoyed the video BUT it is so very commercial and safe and modern. I expect at their gigs they encourage people to support bat charities rather than biting their heads off.
To be clear I wouldn't support people biting bat heads off either and perhaps my disinterest is largely because I'm disinterested in the rock star aesthetic. So I guess it's me and not them.
The initial listens were spent begging for them to turn it up. The music felt like it was being played in a room next door. However after a couple of listens I've now decided it actually sounds much better than I first thought and although it's mixed and recorded in a way to smear everything together it's done well enough to hear all the distinct parts. Although I wasn't super in love with the treatments done on the main vocal I did appreciate how it sat in the mix. You just need to dial in to what they are doing (the bass isn't really interested in filling in the low end and the toms sound like dead snares) but once you do attune there is some stuff to appreciate but not really enough for me. And it all sounds the same.
I listen to a lot of stuff that sounds bad. My favourite song on the album, The River Lullaby, has Hällagård sounding a little like Nathan Willett from Cold War Kids. They've made some albums that sound bad and I gave the Strokes a 9 so the tone of this album isn't super off putting BUT it does lack any kind of dynamic range. I have the musical taste of a toddler. I like the quiet bits to be quiet and the loud bits to be loud. Hear the Rivers largely flatlines which again to me reinforces that this is great music to be used on commercials or tv shows.
I neither hate this or love it. I'm unmoved in any direction. I will hear variations of this every time I watch a youtube video from a middle aged american being aggressively polite and positive. Classic 5 territory
