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Review Summary: Stand up and sing. Sacramento’s I Can See Mountains have released one of the best feel-good albums of the year so far. In a relatively short amount of time, the band’s debut EP I Hope You Never Get It garnered them a lot of fans, but this time around, they’re more polished and more focused, and it definitely pays off.
Album opener “One Mirror, Two Bodies” wastes absolutely no time in throwing the listener straight into the fun and the band’s joining of indie rock and pop-punk is something to be celebrated - it’s what makes the album exactly what it is, meaning Life On A Houseboat is an incredibly captivating listen. The album is absolutely infectious – the gang chants of “Flood the boat!” and “I’ve been having such such evil thoughts!” from the title track will have you shouting along, and the band’s use of different singers means nothing ever gets boring. They have a penchant for exciting melodies throughout and the hooks alone may score the band a place on several critics’ end-of-year lists. The emo influences shine through too, as the spoken word at various points on the album (though especially at the start of finale “The Tigers Have Found Me And I Do Not Care”) wouldn’t be out of place on a Midwest Pen Pals or a Merchant Ships record.
The most admirable aspect of I Can See Mountains is that they’re always honest and never stubbornly pretending to be something they’re not. The stories the band tells are of the awkward experiences of growing up and in just under forty minutes, they capture everything – the feelings of heartbreak, joy and regret, to name a few. “Glory” is a definite highlight too, though some may find lyrics such as “I want to watch indie movies with you” to be more cringe-worthy and lazy than admirable. Production-wise as well, Life On A Houseboat is fantastic. Though it has a DIY feel to it, everything sounds great. The choruses are absolutely huge and the melodies ring out clearly on top of the accompaniment.
Life On A Houseboat is an album that deserves your full attention. Forget A History Of Bad Decisions and What You Don’t See, Buffalo’s I Can See Mountains offer one of the genre’s best and most memorable in recent years. If Life On A Houseboat is what the band are capable of after being together only a few years, then who knows where they’ll be in the future?
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Album Rating: 4.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCmyQaWR4rw
"Glory"
Feedback welcome as always.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
This is pre good.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
This is my AOTY, hands down. I'm completely baffled as to how this band has gotten such little attention. Yeah, I'm sure some of it is subjective, because of memories I have with it this past summer, but it's just such a perfect example of good, mature pop punk. Way better than most of the mediocre albums from this year (TSSF, Man Overboard, etc)
As for your review, it's okay, but feels kind of incomplete. Still, I'm glad there's a review for this. It needs to be heard.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
close to AOTY for me to. Definitely deserves more attention. As you mentioned SteveP, it shits all over most of this years similar releases.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Yeah Steve, I get what you're saying with the review but the album is really weird and unique to me so it's really difficult to name drop or get some points accross! Band is definitely unknown though, for sure (unfortunately).
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
this is absurdly good. everyone who likes the new hotelier should be listening to this as well
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Someone tag Atari and Trebor up in dis bitch.
Also does this sound at all like the other band actually named house boat?
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
fiveing this. i haven't been so in love with an album in forever.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
pmmets, isn't it insanely good? Like, it just comes out of nowhere and hits you and you fall in love. Easily the best pop punk/emo/whatever record of the past few years, for me, yet this band receives very little attention, doesn't tour, etc. Baffling.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
seriously. i'd love to see them play a show. i remember i got their ep when it first came out and it was alright but this is on a whole different level. did you hear their newest ep, gone beachy?
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Beachy is great. Didn't hit me in quite the same way but the musicianship is top-notch and the hooks are still there. I love Hope You Never Get It as well. I talk to Matt, their guitarist/singer sometimes so I might hit him up soon and see if there's any news in the ^^^ camp. Latest I've heard is jamming as a full band again, no news about shows or whatever just yet.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
I'm high fiving the shit out of this as well. Can't believe they aren't together anymore. I think this album will one day be discovered long after there gone. It's a breath of fresh air in this genre for sure. The guitarist started a new band called Thick Winter Blud. Listen to the song "Stupid Me" on their bandcamp. Hope they record a full length cause i'm def getting some mountain vibes.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
the new songs are soooo goooood
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New songs? Are they working on a full length, cause I thought they were done? Gone Beachy was cool, but I need a new full length by these guys.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
Breathing life into this thread. Get around the mountains.
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