August is a hot month in Atlanta, and the weather these last few days has been a little unsettling, as if it's tricking us into thinking that fall is here when we all know it's still two months away. But looking out the window at the gray haziness, I can't imagine a better musical match than Venice Is Sinking's dreamy pop; with its co-ed harmonies and wandering streams of dense melodies, it is the perfect soundtrack for unexpected overcast days.
The Athens, Geo., band's sound is reminiscent of the early days of alternative rock, when the term "college rock" still had significance. The violins recall Camper Van Beethoven, but the music is lush and romantic. Throughout each track, co-vocalists Karolyn Troupe and Daniel Lawson weave their voices through one another, and while Lawson is traditionally in the lead role, it's the combination of their voices that works so well. "Pulaski Heights" establishes the album's mood with layers of guitar and violin over a driving beat. But the real atmosphere comes from the vocals that ohh and ahh in the background, as if echoing up from the bottom of a cave or simply seeping out of the back of your brain. Perhaps the disc's biggest fault, though, is that this mood never changes. There are songs that are a little more upbeat than others, but beyond that, they are all very similar. As a result, the songs sort of drift by, at times settling into the background.
But if doleful, nostalgic pop is your bag, there is little to complain about with this set. The band employs a wide range of auxiliary instrumentation to round out the traditional guitar-led lineup, and often it's these instruments that define the tracks in a way. "Tours" features bells and a variety of strings, creating an echo effect that works well with the dusty shuffle of the drums. On "Buried Magnets", it's the piano tinkling over one of the album's most explosive beats that captures your attention and create a cohesiveness that a lot of bands struggle to achieve on a debut. The album's only drastically different track is "Blue By Late", which concludes the disc with 20 minutes of ambient droning. According to the liner notes, the sounds that make up the track are all sliced up and blended from the other nine tracks. So while it's an odd choice for a record that is so strong on melody, they ultimately pull it off, and it ends up working as a unique closing chapter, tying the rest of the album together.
