Eagle*Seagull - s/t

Eagle*Seagull
s/t
Paper Garden Records
Grade: A-

Trying to re-orientate the location of the continuingly strange indie rock influence of Nebraska – from Omaha to Lincoln (home of University of Nebraska) – comes the grandiose orchestrated self-titled affair from Eagle*Seagull. Headed by Eli Mardock, Eagle*Seagull comes across like a composite of numerous indie sounds – perhaps most directly a unique mixture of the cache of Sub Pop’s Canadian bands (e.g, Wolf Parade, Constantines) and Saddle Creek’s more chilled outfits. Yet, no band on either of those labels has much on ES. This eleven song self-titled debut opens on “Lock and Key” with six-plus minutes of low keys and Mardock’s depressed vocals doubled. For those into the depressives tip of rock, “Lock and Key” is a great find. Not to be pressed into this box, ES follow “Lock and Key” up with the up-tempo “Photograph,” that while again traversing six-minutes manages to keep things interesting. “Hello, Never” takes sometime to succeed, while “Death Could Be At the Door” brings the speed back down to a murmuring. After acoustic guitars on “Holy,” ES mirror the Good Life on “Your Beauty Is a Knife I Turn On My Throat.” While a strong number, the mixing of “Your Beauty…” is messed up as Mardock’s vocals are way to loud compared to the instrumentation. ES thrash their selves around for seven minutes on “It’s So Sexy” and a nice combo of keys and tempo great you on “Last Song,” which isn’t the last song. The last two songs are actually “Heal It/Feel It” and “Ballet or Art.” “Heal It/Feel It” is relatively odd compared to the other songs as ES move to more of a new wave attack that compares favorably to Ric Ocasek. “Ballet or Art” rumbles along quite similarly to the opener “Lock and Key,” again with Mardock’s agonizing vocals and keys. It is fairly amazing that more hasn’t been heard about this phenomenal act for Lincoln. That should all change quite soon.