Get Help - The End of the New Country

Midriff Records

November 3, 2008, 11:03 PM

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On first listen you can be forgiven for thinking that "Get Help - The End of the New Country" is an Interpol side project. There’s more than a hint of Paul Banks mixed up with a helping of Michael Stipe to Get Help’s country tinged vocals.

And it’s definitely a grower.
Much like Interpol.

This is where Get Help part ways with all things R.E.M’s occasional pop tendencies and stick with the almost morose contemplative sounds of an underground indie band. Title track ‘The End of the New Country’ is about as upbeat as Get Help get – with the overly familiar 4/4 drum beat and repetitive guitars, you’d be forgiven for lumping them in with every other band around at the moment, but the reverberant guitar solo and distorted sounds remind you that this song is probably just a single used to grab your attention. The tracks on The End of the New Country go further. Exploring different guitar sounds and tones, stereo mixing (don’t listen to sunlight’s revenge if you’re experiencing an ‘altered state of mind’ – it’ll leave you nauseous).

Get Help flit from soaring distorted guitars soaked in reverb one minute, to quiet reflective acoustic, and somewhere get lost in the middle. This album is long, for a New England group of little standing in the musical waters this side of the pond, they’ve somewhat stretched themselves. I can’t help but drift off in the middle after so much repetition of guitar sounds. It comes to a point where you just don’t hear the acoustic songs nestled somewhere in the middle – even though they are worthy tracks in themselves.

‘Life is Full of Surprises’ is a beautiful song, with warm piano and swirling synths, but somehow, its position on the album doesn’t do it justice. But, if you can make it through the album, there’s a stonker of an ending. Growing Circles picks you right back up and sends you back on the indie underground train, where you started when you first pressed play on this record.

It’s a shame you end up taking a detour to do the washing up halfway through.

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