Comprised of members of the Sleepy Jackson and Gelbison, Nations by the River is a side-project group that sounds less like a band and more like a commune. Their debut, Holes in the Valley, conjures visions of some lost pocket of '60s social idealism, a wigwam village where men cultivate immense beards and women nurse infants in slings and everyone gathers around the campfire for early-evening sing-alongs. This is, of course, both a compliment and a criticism. The band is obviously aiming for a throwback sound (which makes the chorus "These are the times we live in" seem particularly disingenuous), and the flower-power-era folk on Holes in the Valley alternates between kum-ba-ya intimacy of "Heart Attack Romance" and jangly pop like "We Dance Everyday", all with a sporadically brooding mood and dark lyrics that address complicated, but not necessarily free, love.
Despite reports that Luke Steele is a control freak with his day-job band the Sleepy Jackson, the communal aspect of Nations by the River's sound creeps into the band's make-up: Steele, Gelbison's Edo Kahn and Dove Kahn, and Old Man River's Ohad Rein all share the songwriting responsibilities and alternate vocal duties, and it's not unimaginable-- hell, it's more than likely-- that they even share the less desirable tasks, like driving the tour van or playing bass. However, like any utopian experiment, Holes in the Valley gets very dull very quickly. Their devotion to re-creating a particular sound gives the album an air of deadly self-seriousness and precludes any real experimentation or fun. What else is a side-project good for if not that?
A few flashes of ingenuity interrupt the otherwise mundane songs. For the album's most remarkable moment, "The Prettiest Girl" starts off like every other song on the album-- gentle acoustic strums, sensitive vocals-- but then what sounds like a summer-stock chorale sings a lengthy showtune segmentÉ in Hebrew. "Heroin" at least tries for moody atmosphere, although any song by that title that's not a Velvet Underground cover is pretty much doomed. Steele adds some weirdness in places, his prickly voice sounding even more otherworldly in this earthy context: "Kids World" is sleepy Sleepy Jackson, but "Boys" features his eerie falsetto leading into a hypnotic chorus.
Nevertheless, Holes in the Valley is full of holes itself: song ideas that sound like they're still incubating. The opener "I Don't Want You" ends abruptly after only one verse and chorus. Most of the songs are built on repetition of simple passages, and a few, like "Cracking Up", hum their melodies where lyrics are conspicuously absent. The effect is to suggest something impromptu and fleeting, temporary instead of stable. Apparently, all things must pass. So maybe Nations by the River isn't a committed commune, but just summer camp.
