The Spirals - A Decade Later (review)

"A Decade Later" is a surprising gem coming from the erstwhile unheard-of Spirals. With the slew of poorly written, even more poorly-recorded songs coming forth from the speakers of our FM radios nowadays (yes, you can probably guess who you are, so I won't mention names), I hardly expected anything from "yet another local band". But somehow, this band managed to pierce through my calloused tastes and tickled my fancies enough to get one thumb up.

While the days of my enthusiasm for post-punk music died out with Franz Ferdinand (whatever happened to them?), I can still appreciate staccato rhythms and hauntingly repetitive guitar notes. In the postpunk world, everything is so derivative that the only way for a band to stand out is to go a little over the top and actually reset the counter back to "original", just like Franz Ferdinand and a few others have done. Unfortunately, "A Decade Later" falls short of that level of rock 'n' roll greatness. But of course, how much can one expect of a relatively new (or so I presume) band? For a (and again, I presume) first EP, it's an excellent effort to deviate from the current mainstream of local music - and music in general!

What I like most about the album - it's not a particularly professional-sounding album, but the effort put into it is obvious. It takes commitment to actually come out and pull off a well-recorded album in these days when penny-pinching for studio time is a trend. About the songwriting? Reminiscent of Interpol - dark and ambiguous. The arrangement is even darker - with damp, lonely guitar notes resonating from all aural corners.

All in all, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars, leaving just enough room for growth. As soon as this band finds its own signature sound, they could well be on their way to becoming the next big thing.

-> Teh Spirals on Teh Myspace
(first printed on the most awesomest music webzine of yesteryear, eksena.net)