Review: The Winter Sounds - Church of the Haunted South

About a week or so ago, I had the opportunity to meet with The Winter Sounds. I had actually went to go see them perform, but their show had been shut down by the police before I even got there. I guess they just rock live shows that hard. Anyway, in the interest of curbing the proverbial blue balling I had just experienced, I decided to pick up a copy of their latest album, Church of the Haunted South, and I'm glad I did. The indie rock quartet from Athens, GA has found some time during their frenzied tour schedule to produce an album that combines elements of new wave with indie-pop hooks and vocal harmonies, making Church of the Haunted South a very unique and enjoyable listening experience.

I would say that the easiest way for me to describe The Winter Sounds 'sound' would be a loose mixture of Band of Horses and Rogue Wave with a tinge of European flavor to it. Don't ask me exactly how I came to this realization, but ever since I came up with it, it seems to have proved itself true for the most part. Regardless, this 'sound' isn't necessarily what makes the album as interesting as it is. While the instrumentation has more than its fair share of moments (the horn section of "Graveyards," for example... heck, actually all of "Graveyards"), it is actually frontman Patrick Keenan's vocal talent that seems to stand out above all else, and this too, is a wonderful thing, as he has a relatively wide range that he often uses to his--and thus the album's--advantage. While this may not quite seem the case at the album's outset, once "O'Fear" starts, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Of course, the vocal work wouldn't mean much if there weren't some quality lyrics to go along with them. While there aren't too many moments where the writing grabbed me as particularly striking, The Winter Sounds seem to have a perfectly competent lyrical style, complete with stresses at most of the moments where they seem appropriate. The lyrics for "Pinebox" probably stuck out the most to me, but that might be partially due to the fact that the song juxtaposes some upbeat guitar riffage and horns to the pretty dark lyrics "Life took its toll on me so they put me in a box made of pine where I’ve lingered on / And if you come for me you’ll find Hemingway and I never die we just drink alone."

But for the more interesting songs like "Pinebox" and "Trophy Wife," there are also a few songs that just don't quite fit in with the majority of Church of the Haunted South. More specifically, "Marry Me" is quite a snoozer of a track that just sort of bumbles along about someone that wishes to marry an uncooperative lover. The problem here is that not only is the subject matter tired territory, but also because it isn't really approached in a novel way at all. Additionally, it is only towards the end of the song that the instrumentation picks up into something interesting, but at that point it's pretty much too little, too late. Fortunately though, "Marry Me" is the only real loser on the album in my book. Every other song on the album seems to pull out a few interesting tricks to make them stand-out. And, while the degree to which those tricks really click for The Winter Sounds varies, they all still seem to contribute something valuable to Church of the Haunted South in some way.

So essentially, with the exception of one song, the indie, new wave, synth pop sound of this little Georgian band works out really well on their latest release. Not too shabby, Winter Sounds. I may just have to try and see you live again when you come to the Red & Black on the 24th.