Review: The Jealous Sound

The Jealous Sound
“Self Titled”
(Better Looking Records)

Indie rock done with true passion.  Between singer Blair Shehan’’s breathy whispers and them tight clean strummed guitars, the intent of the The Jealous Sound is to stir something within you.  Smooth enough for the emo/alt rock set, but smart enough to punch it up occasionally with some intense quick strum pop, but never to they reach the point of metallic rage, at the heaviest, The Jealous Sound barely qualify as loud.  But they never lose their ability to push the tempo and keep the attention to the swelling bridges and hide in the corner electronic elements.  Song to song, this album sets moods of warm guitars that are sweet in their distortion and even sweeter in the light pick bounce rhythms and small trickles of lead repetitions that poke through on occasion.  Some interesting production in the track “priceless” as the bridge is a subdued drum track that pulled apart by a sudden crash of overly saturated static laced guitar and both are placed somewhere just outside of the song before the rest of the music catches up.  It’s the complimenting intelligence behind the daring structures and the occasional attention to production detail that molds this album (or EP rather as this only has 5 songs) into the gem that it is.  Some changes offered with the piano addition for “Quiet Life” works well enough, but the actual piano work does little more than bounce along the guitar progression.  The closing number is a steady push of guitar click and drum pop that should get all the shoe gazers nodding heads in unison.  And all with that sweet breathy whisper giving The Jealous Sound their signature vocal style.  If at all this sounds vaguely familiar, its because Shehan used to sing and strum for Knapsack.  If you want a comparison, The Jealous Sound are a little less edgy, but share the same sincere delivery and attention to melody.