The Morning Benders - Big Echo (2010)

Artist: The Morning Benders
Title Of Album: Big Echo
Year Of Release: March 9, 2010
Label: Rough Trade Us
Genre: Indie Pop
Bitrate: CBR 320 Kbps
Source: CD
Total Time: 38:53 min
Total Size: 90.18 MB

Tracklist

01. Excuses 5:17
02. Promises 3:03
03. Wet Cement 3:55
04. Cold War 1:44
05. Pleasure Sighs 4:28
06. Hand Me Downs 3:45
07. Mason Jar 4:45
08. All Day Day Light 3:38
09. Stitches 5:04
10. Sleeping In 3:14

Product Description:

BIG ECHO is an album made to be played LOUD.It sounds great on headphones. The band that made it is called THE MORNING BENDERS.They recorded the album in San Francisco and mixed it in Brookyln. CHRIS CHU and CHRIS TAYLOR (Grizzly Bear)produced it in eleven days. On the twelfth day they rejoiced. There are 10 tracks on BIG ECHO which THE MORNING BENDERS think is best length for an album. It should also be said that BIG ECHO is made of some of the most glorious pop music you'll hear this year or any year. "Shouting into a valley. Big Shout: BIG ECHO".

Assault.it wrote:

Maybe I’m getting older, but I find some of the more quality new bands are tougher to get into. Sure, there’s a part of me that thought very highly of, say,the last White Rabbits album, but part of me thinks if Spoon had an album out last summer I never would have heard 'It’s Frightening' at all. (And subsequently would have missed the one moment in their oeuvre that isn’t disputably awesome, the pounding single “Percussion Gun.” But I digress.)

I’m drawing the comparison because I feel the same way about The Morning Benders’ excellent new album 'Big Echo'. Much like the last Rabbits disc, 'Big Echo' was produced – nay, mentored – by a big name indie-rock star, with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor taking the Berkley band under his wings and handling production duties. But where White Rabbits literally sound like Britt Daniels playing puppet-master with a younger band, The Morning Benders come up with some excellent moments on their own that stand apart from Taylor’s shimmery engineering.

Opening with “Excuses,” these guys aim for the rafters. The track swirls with kaleidoscopic acoustics panning left and right and gorgeous backing vocals that sound like a dream I wish I could have every night. It’s a beautiful melody, and it’s hard to miss how the big room reverb and organic sound of the best Grizzly Bear stuff fits here.

The second track, “Promises,” could be an outtake from the Grizzly Bear side-project Department of Eagles’ excellent 'In Ear Park', and, though repeated listens reveal more than the initially awkward cocksure swagger, the choice in sequencing is unfortunate: you’re forced out of the dreamland for a song that tries to remind people of the band’s somewhat well-known single “Loose Change,” which otherwise comes across as the West Coast answer to 'Yellow House'.

Immediately following this pleasure-suite, we drift back into a hazy and exciting dream. “Wet Cement,” “Cold War", and “Pleasure Sighs” all soothe and sway, gradually building their way sequentially to the next semi-anthemic moment. This occurs once the sixth track, “Hand Me Downs,” gets its feet under it. It’s packed with large waves of reverberated guitar and hooky, hazy vocals that only get better the more you invest in the song.

Over all, The Morning Benders are a step above bands like White Rabbits. They have their own personality and seem to be going to great lengths to show that Taylor’s presence is more an upgrade in production quality than an apprenticeship in all things Grizzly. The songs are often excellent – these guys are a likable art-pop minded band to watch, especially since two-thirds of any complaints will largely be about sequence and momentum, which are hardly relevant in a time when almost no one listens to an album from start to finish. Losing-my-edge grumpiness aside, and assuming they shoot as high on album number three, we could be looking at the best band to come out of the bay area since Beulah.

-Женщины и вороны нападают стаей. (Казимеж Тетмайер)