A place for music rants and recommendations. The faint of heart are welcome.
Welcome to the Sub-Mariner. You may be confused, but don't be afraid. We're just a handful of people with a lot to say about music. We're here to provide album reviews and other little pieces about the music, past or present, that we enjoy. The Sub-Mariner was created because sharing music is fun, but also because we're all busy people that don't get a lot of time to just chill out and revel in what reaches our ears on a day to day basis.
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When I started listening to this album and "Dust in the Gold Sack" started out -- a single female singer strumming open chords on an acoustic guitar-- I already had a few guesses as to where things would be going. I was prepared for a nice folksy number with some pretty vocal harmonies or a cute keyboard melody, but what came next was actually just about as unexpected as it was blatantly appropriate. When that little feedback squeal (arguably the best sound an electric guitar can make) started to squeeze its way into the scene, I knew I would love the next 3 minutes of my life. And I did. It's not often that a band breaks free from the current stadium-indie-rock paradigm of synthetic sounds and top notch production value. Instead, Swearin' takes the subtle approach: a basement jam session style rock band that doesn't try too hard to be artsy or groundbreaking. It's the kind of music that comes naturally. No hook is too wild, no line is too poetic, no beat is too complicated. It's just fun and familiar. You can almost smell that basement musk, see your band mates leaning on tables with guitars, hear the chatter of good friends, only half interested in the music being created a handful of feet away. With Surfing Strange, Swearin' invites you into their world -- a world that sounds a little bit like Pavement, Guided By Voices, and the Breeders -- not to partake in some grand musical experience, but just to enjoy and belong. Notice the sound of a light guitar pick slapping against strings, or an extraneous bass or guitar note here and there.
On the other hand, Swearin' manages to take this tempestuous mixture of "loud" and make it into a coherent, smart set of songs. The heavier uptempo songs are offset with toned back tracks, all of which maintain a nice level of scuzzy. Lyrically, Swearin' serves up a nice set of unreserved confessions and unashamedly honest observations. "When you get older you'll realize what this was. It wasn't love. Or you won't, and you'll remain ignorant and in pain," hums Allison Crutchfield, accompanied by nice slow bass chords on "Loretta's Flowers", one of my favorites on the album.
Sure, Surfing Strange probably wasn't an album aimed at changing the musical world as we know it. Instead, it comes across as an album meant to be enjoyed at face value, and at face value, it's really just a collection of good songs from a good band. Do you really need more?
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