In my CD player, I’ve been listening to a uh demo copy of the debut album from Guillemots, Through The Windowpane. I first heard about them when they were a free single on iTunes, but for some reason never got into it nor downloaded it. Then, I came across them on a review from some musicmag, where they received an A+ and figured I would check it out.

Recently, I have judged an album by the first track (which is not necessarily their first single), if it is catchy, I find that I will like the band a lot more. Albums that have fit into this pattern were the Franz Ferdinand debut, and the Killers debut, both of which were awesome albums. Through the Windowpane‘s first track is also strong, but not in a catchy way that Jacqueline or Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine was. In fact, it starts like you’re listening to a classical CD, but eventually swells into a couple lines of vocals before the end. Simple, but striking. Imagine the use of dynamics. Wow.

I can’t really say that their songs are catchy, in fact they are very hard to define. I’ve seen them listed under Rock or Alternative labels, but I also think it could be defined as Electronic, Lounge, Latin? Maybe it should be a soundtrack. While generally the music is very mellow, there is sophistication in the rhythm and melody so that when you’re listening, you go: Wow, what did I just hear? This came out of nowhere!

The first half of the CD is interesting, and while there are some clunkers near the end (including the dreaded track 9), there are some gems hiding away back there. The best I could describe Guillemots is that they seem to be Arcade Fire v2. Their not “guitar” rock, there is great instrumentation and layers in their music. In fact, I think you need a decent soundsystem to hear the nuances of the instrumentation and really appreciate their music.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: music