Review Summary: They don’t dream at all, don’t dream like I do.
I imagine that releasing a debut album must be an utterly nerve-racking process. As a first full-length offering of your sound, you must be certain your record will draw in fans while also making sure you do not compromise your integrity. On top of this, a debut album should also display some sense of youthful energy all while being ‘polished’ to a certain extent. Take for example, if you may, the case of experimental post-hardcore band K Séra and their tumultuous foray into a debut release. It took exactly one year from the initial tracking of their record to share it with the general public. This delay, while slightly mysterious, could be attributed to post-production and mixing. Although a delay of this length more often than not lends the band to second guessing and subsequently, debuting a shell of what they originally produced,
Collisions and Near Misses benefits greatly from the postponement. Produced by Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter and The Receiving End Of Sirens fame, K Séra’s debut album has the perfect mix of theatrics and production. Every song has a certain gleam not often found on debut albums of relatively unheard of bands.
The album starts off with
Collisions, a song that would seem completely out of place anywhere else on the album, as it is often described as a track that would be welcomed at an “old time piano parlor”. The first minute of the track is solely bubbly piano juxtaposed by gloomy lyrics. The song progresses and builds until its much anticipated apex, leading perfectly into the second track. And with that the listener realizes that they are in for a pleasant and exciting listen. Throughout the entirety of the 10 tracks K Séra presents listeners with various and distinctive song structures combined with passionate instrumentation all while displaying the immense vocal range of Mike Caswell.
K Séra is a band that, while not having an entirely unique sound, manages to set themselves apart from their contemporaries through a constant implementation of not only keys and electronics, but the
good old fashioned piano as well. The piano is a woefully underutilized instrument in the post-hardcore scene. Pianos find ways to compliment typical instrumentation that other ‘quirks’ just cannot match. Nearly every single track contains beautiful and often times, haunting piano lines. Be it the dark bridge of
True Enough To Be Interesting or abrupt tempo change in the penultimate track, piano is prominently displayed in nearly every song. The aforementioned second to last track,
Ambien is a definite highlight of the album. Ambien is a slow burning track with abrupt tempo changes and loud/soft dynamics sure to please anyone who is a fan of emotional and passionate music.
The placement of songs on this record is a major reason this album seems so beautiful and cathartic. Take for example the anomaly that is
Dream, Like I Do. As one of the more up-tempo and driving tracks on the entire album it sticks out not unlike the allegorical sore thumb. But it settles down considerably as it fades out and flows seamlessly into
St. Peter (Better Than Yours), one of the calmest tracks on this album. This ebb and flow is found constantly throughout, adding a heightened sense of dynamics.
Collisions and Near Misses is an eclectic permutation of different influences;
Hollow Ground of London displays a Latin influenced intro,
St. Peter (Better Than Yours) wouldn’t be out of place on an indie-pop record and
Carry contains looping electronic beats. But amidst the variety of evident inspirations, K Séra has managed to create a stellar debut album, setting the stage for bigger and better things in their near future.
