Review Summary: The sound of paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Seahaven are an enigma when it comes to the current scene of slightly sadder than normal indie-tinged punk ala Tigers Jaw and Pity Sex. From vocalist Kyle Soto's Jesse Lacey-influenced wail on their debut to his Madonna-while-she-was-f
uckng Guy Ritchie fake British drawl on Winter Forever, to his now-I-wish-I-was-in-Belle & Sebastian middle ground on their newest EP
Silhouette (Latin Skin), the band has followed suit in style in a never ending game of musical Guess Who. While still heavily indebted to the slower songs on the first two Brand New albums -- just see the double tracked vocals in “Sleep Alone”, which sound pulled right off
Your Favorite Weapon -- Seahaven have now added a small bit of sleepy, Oberstian nu-country sheen to their emo-pop misery. The only problem is that it doesn't bring much to the table other than another dimension that doesn't quite come together as it should, which rather aptly sums up Seahaven's career as a whole. All the pieces are there to make something great, but instead of leaping ahead of the pack, they rather aptly play second fiddle to their influences instead. Every one of their records has a good song or two, and
Silhouette is no different. In fact, every one of the three tracks found on the EP are fun in their own little way, but upon hearing them you can't help to be reminded that everything that they bring to the table has been done before and done better. The hazy aches and twang of the title track fall flat when compared to Cassino, the sad song sing along of “Sleep Alone” was bested over a decade ago on “Soco Amaretto Lime”, and the straight ahead downer rock of “Phantom Family” was done better by Seahaven themselves on
Ghost. Sure, it gets the job done, but there are better albums out there if all you're looking for is a second helping of regurgitated ideas served on a flimsy paper plate.
