Small Brown Bike
“The River Bed”
(Lookout!)
“The River Bed” is aggressive indie rock from SBB, full of powerful vocals and emo-ed out, angular guitars. SBB have crafted a wonderful album here, full of lush, varied textures and sounds without ever writing a blatantly poppy track. No, the boys from Minnesota stay true to their roots, creating an almost angry, ominous feel to many of the tracks that reverberate throughout the album. SBB never resort to screaming either, as the brutally honest tones are conveyed with measured amounts of harmony and verse, atmosphere and longing.
The use of melodies within “The River Bed” is particularly of note, as tracks such as “Day and Nightmares” and “A Declaration of Sorts” will have snatches of beautifully resonant poetry stuck in your head for hours. While “The River Bed” sometimes gets a little too somber for its own good, there’s too much to like here to not wish you had a little bike.
