When you thnk of Canada, chances are you think of hockey and
\nbeer. If you are hip, you might even think of “SCTV,” their answer
\nto “Saturday Night Live”. But do you think of Canada as the home of
\npop\/rock groups waiting to make a name for themselves?<\/p>\n
The more I do this job, the more it surprises me that there are
\nso many groups just to our north who never get a fair shot in the
\nStates. One of those groups, The Watchmen, are finally being given
\na chance to succeed within our borders, as their American debut
\n(and fourth album overall)
\nSilent Radar<\/i> is released.<\/p>\n
The band – vocalist Daniel Greaves, guitarist Joey Serlin,
\nbassist Ken Tizzard and drummer Sammy Kohn – remind me more than a
\nlittle of Live, only The Watchmen’s music isn’t as dark and
\nbrooding as Live’s can get. Musically, they’re a cohesive outfit
\nwho know how to turn on the charm in their songs. However, the one
\ndrawback to
\nSilent Radar<\/i> is that it’s not the easiest album to get
\ncomfortable with, and the challenges the band issues to the
\nlistener might be too much for one to overcome. You certainly won’t
\ndo it with one compulsory listen.<\/p>\n
The album opens strongly enough with “Stereo,” a track that
\nbuilds from its gentle introduction to a guitar powerhouse very
\nquickly. This track alone could help the band establish themselves
\non American radio; it’s catchy enough to make you want to hear it
\nagain and again, yet fresh enough where you’ll hear something new
\nwith each listen.<\/p>\n
For a good portion of
\nSilent Radar<\/i>, The Watchmen prove to be a very impressive
\nband who create music that excites. Tracks like “I’m Waiting,” “Do
\nIt,” “Come Around” and the title track all stand out, and make the
\nlistener wonder why no one in America was willing to take a chance
\non these guys before.<\/p>\n
However, there are some moments on
\nSilent Radar<\/i> that prove to be hard to plow through. Tracks
\nlike “Rooster” do eventually show their power to the listener, but
\nthey’re not the most accessible songs. I found that when I lost my
\nfocus during these tracks, it was nearly impossible for me to
\nlisten to the remainder of the album with the same intensity that I
\nhad been. Before I’d realize it, three tracks would pass, and I had
\nno knowledge of what I’d just heard.<\/p>\n
While
\nSilent Radar<\/i> has the potential to be the true breakthrough
\nfor The Watchmen, they do need to try and break out of the
\nmelancholia that has been the trademark of other bands. When the
\nalbum slows down, like on “Any Day Now,” it plods at times, and it
\ntakes a lot more effort to bring things up to speed. I’m not saying
\nthe band should drop the slow-tempo numbers, but they should try to
\nfind the spark that will keep people listening intensely.<\/p>\n
\nSilent Radar<\/i> is an album that should produce more than a
\n“blip” on the screens of American audiences. And while they still
\nneed one more coat of paint before they’re ready for superstardom,
\nthis is still a solid first effort in the States. Chances are if
\nthis one succeeds, we’ll be seeing their other albums down here in
\ndue time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7568],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39375","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-watchmen","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39375"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}