Victory At Sea - All Your Things Are Gone

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 16 / 3 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CD

intro

Confident, immaculate piano-dominated rock on fifth album from Boston-based trio, Victory at Sea

Because there are so many indie bands around - more than you could possibly listen to, even if you gave up doing anything else - and all seem to have been praised somewhere, you can forgive the tendency to try a bit too hard to impress. Weird yelping vocals, overworked lyrics, quirky rhythms that change before you’ve got used to them - these are all characteristics of bands doing anything they can to get attention. Luckily, some of the more experienced bands seem a bit more comfortable in their own skin. Boston’s Victory at Sea are on their fifth album, and seem confident enough to let their music breathe all on its own. The pleasantly deep singing voice of focal point Mona Eliot, the prominence of piano and the extremely competent drumming are what distinguishes Victory at Sea from others. The subjects of Eliot’s songs always seem to be pushed just slightly sideways, making these personal. Plain words seem mysterious and poetic. We are never quite sure what she is really singing about, so she says a lot about herself when singing about someone else. With her vocals very prominent, it is these words that will draw listeners in. The rest of the band fit themselves comfortably in behind. With the exception of one track on which Eliot slightly over reaches herself, this is a tasteful and enjoyable record. This music doesn’t aim for ‘greatness’ in the way that Radiohead would do. All the songs have the same kind of template and approach(and that is firmly within the well trodden path of indie/alternative), not too fast or slow, always with a rock element but never too heavy. And yet the song writing is imaginative and the music nicely adept, and therefore ‘All Your Things Are Gone’ is the sort of album you might find yourself returning to years from now.

Track Listing:-