Review Summary: "We're allowed to go astray..."
While admittedly not as busy as, say, Steven Wilson,
North Atlantic Oscillation's Sam Healy has done a fair amount of solid work over the past few years. With the release of his band's smashing debut EP, Callsigns, in 2005, it soon became clear that the band behind the electronic buzzes and pastoral textures of songs like "Cell Count" and the obtuse poetry present in songs like "Ritual" would become a strong player in the post-progressive scene. I've been keeping up with them ever since I first heard the skewed guitars of "Drawing Maps From Memory," so when Sam announced the impending release of a solo album, to be entitled "Sand," I was quite excited.
The first taste I got from this new project was from a non-album track called "Liferaft," which was available as a free download shortly before the album's release. I was interested almost immediately, as it was a piece reflecting a special growth in Sam's songwriting. It had choral elements, but it was, at its heart, a grooving, psychedelic jam.
Impressed, I was able to snag the first actual album track that was released, "Clay." It again intrigued me, as it rolled and tumbled like an ocean, not the cold Atlantic of Sam's main project, but certainly the tropical, surfy feel of the warm Pacific.
The first track, "Life Is Too Easy," ripples over top of a pulsing electronic beat and grows majestically. The minute it started, it was immediately apparent that this is not the Sam Healy we once knew. His lyrics, while still cryptic, rely less on the poetry so apparent in NAO's work and much more on the pulsing, emotive voice present in shoegaze. You would never find a phrase so easily understood as "life's too easy" in anything from Fog Electric.
When I had first ordered my copy and was waiting for its arrival, I found my third taste of this wonderful new flavour in the pensive, moving "Destroyer." While the title does sound aggressive, North Atlantic Oscillation's sea-faring concept still shines through, and the story of an inevitably painful love reflects marvelously through lyrics like:
"Without your triage and telegraph
I'm a rudderless antique oil-powered destroyer
How long, how long till you throw me to the floor
Howling "stand no more"
I can't eat, I can't sleep"
Sam Healy's first love song is one of the highlights, certainly, but it is by no means the only good track. The album is clearly meant to be listened to as a whole, with little interludes permeating the sonic experience that only add to the overall sea-faring feel. In short, this is the first album of Sam's that I have been able to relate to as a whole. His lyrics have always been incredible, but it's only now that I've truly been able to appreciate them.
If there's one disappointing thing about Sand, it's the unfortunate fact that this album will have very little reach. Its appeal should be universal, there's really no reason why it's not, but there's only so far you can go when your genre can't be adequately described. I love what Sam's done in the past, and I absolutely adore this latest offering, but I'm afraid that it'll disappear in the wave of digital popular music.
Sand is definitely a sidestep from the North Atlantic Oscillation that we know and love, but there's a lot of promise and a lot of excellent work on this album. I hope it breaks through the ice that is pop culture and makes a splash in the hearts of post-progressive fans everywhere. This is an album that requires several listens to fully appreciate all of its components. If you let it into your heart, I give you my word that you'll never be the same.
