The Inner Banks (Dag!)
By Ryan Harig
Wednesday. Dec 06, 11:52 AM
A beautiful, Westernized journey through the mind.

A blend of electronic and laid back rock textures assaults the ears in a beautiful way on opener “Acoustic”… my first thought was that this reminded me of a pleasant mix of Air or even instrumental guru pioneers Tristeza. I was happy and more than eager to delve into The Inner Banks with this feeling established, as the first track burned a smile across my face (one that, more often than not, hasn’t been very pleased with this genre of music as of late).

Too often, groups of this approach get lost in translation, trying to push the envelope but ending up lost in a drudgery of uninspired material. I am happy to say that this release is truly something magical, more inspired than other releases of said genre and distinction. Not to say that it’s perfect, but The Inner Banks are definitely worth a listen.

The band are led by the lovely married couple of David Gould and Caroline Schutz. The two are more than eager to please and dive maddeningly into thick production that saturates most of the hypnotic and interesting release. “Buried West,” for example, showcases a side of the duo that wasn’t apparent earlier, almost telling a story without a single lyric. This is a trait that is often lost in bands who mix lyrics into a seemingly all-instrumental album. I truly enjoy music like this, and wish I was not so preoccupied with metal these days to take time out and immerse myself in more “orchestral” types of music.

I love Air, and this is where my biggest problem with this release les: as I listened to the album for the third or fourth time, I felt as if I was listening to Premiers Symptomes (one of my favorite porno-meets-folk albums, whatever the hell that means) instead of a promising new band. A big pet peeve of mine is hearing a release that all too much recalls another. Not that we ourselves, in our musical endeavors, don’t start from the music that we are inspired by, but sometimes I find that The Inner Banks are just a bit too close to Air for my liking. Maybe I’m just hearing things, but that’s what I felt so I have to be honest.

Overall, there is not enough flaws here for me to not recommend The Inner Banks. This album is loaded with violins, pretty vocals, a unique Western-ish flare, and a bit more originality than can be said for most bands in this genre. I enjoyed it and am sure anybody with true feelings will also feel the same.
www.theinnerbanks.net
www.dagrecords.com

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Ryan Harig

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