Review Summary: One not so supergroup.
Seemingly poster children for “supergroups” that just don’t work,
Eyes Adrift briefly rose from the ashes of two (and to a lesser extent the third) bands that helped shape the sound of the 90’s. Assembled with singer/guitarist Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets, bassist Krist Novoselic of
Nirvana fame, and drummer
Bud Gaugh of musical-hodgepodge trio
Sublime, the band’s sound is definitely in the vein of post-grunge. The hodgepodge of influences the band uses here range from the obvious grunge to folk, punk, and even country, weaving together for a somewhat smooth and sleepy mix.
Opening with
Sleight of Hand, the albums tone is set immediately. The same dreamy/dreary song writing and styling is the driving force behind Eyes Adrift, so if you’re not into the first couple songs, now you can know what to expect from the rest of the disc. Despite feeling ridiculously redundant more than often on the band’s first and only album, there are scarce moments that give off the underlying beauty in some of these compositions.
Untried, the aforementioned
Sleight of Hand,
Slow Race and a couple others seem to reveal more about themselves upon repeated listens. If you’re looking for a slightly harder edge, the only real place for that here would be in
Alaska (sorry) – and even this has underlying hints of that ever-present country twang. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this album/band is that bassist Novoselic takes the mic for three tracks,
Inquiring Minds, the 15 minute closer
Pasted, and another I admittedly can’t figure out or find information on. These songs aren’t enough to save a floundering record, but the idea might be a bit of a draw for die-hard Nirvana fans.
To sum things up,
Eyes Adrift is like an interestingly wrapped package with a rather dull trinket inside. The promise of some of the 90’s favourite band’s culminating in some new sound was intriguing, but unfortunately the notion never really panned out. The addition of a country influence to the post-grunge rock sound that followed the decade may seem like fresh concept on paper, but you still have to be able to stomach the country sound in the end. This just didn’t blend well with the rest of the influences the band was trying to convey, something that translated into poor reviews and poor sales. Ultimately the band would disband as a result of lack of interest, with Gaugh and Kirkwood later assembling the rock ensemble Volcano. This still might be something worth investing your time into, even if just out of a sick sense of curiosity.
