Morning Spy
The Silver Age
( Abandoned Love Records | Keep ) 2005

The relatively isolated feeling you get from Jon Rooney's simple opening guitar and voice sets a mood that gradually shifts as layer upon layer of instrumentation finds its way in, and energy levels increase. Less than four minutes later, the melancholy singer songwriter in a cafe has become a confident eye in a theater full of swirling piles of guitar.

After the eventful opener that is "Princess Vancouver" [available in MP3 on Morning Spy's site ], The Silver Age settles into a more recognizable form with the strummed and jangle-y pop that makes up most of the rest of the album. The early shift on "Foggy Filter" to Allison Goffman's lead vocals accentuates the variety of colors Morning Spy is capable of painting with, yet the tonality of things still keeps it all in the very much Morning Spy camp.

The album closes with what ends up being my favorite track - "The Slow March to Salt-White Sleep". It's a languorous and eerie piece that floats on sustained organ chords with minimal, but because of that, effecting vocals and guitar. It's not going to be the hit single, but it's a gem and illustrative again of their range.

The Silver Age falls relatively neatly into the realm of dream pop, with comparisons easily made to Luna (Rooney does sound a bit like Dean Wareham), Yo La Tengo, and earlier bands of the 80's paisley underground. But they have a slightly rawer sound than most of those that came before, and they take it in bigger directions, occasionally bringing the level up to massive swirling heights that are a little unexpected from such subdued beginnings.

Mark Schlipper :: (12.13.05)