Beartrap Island

Division Day | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 2, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Eenie Meenie Records
• ASIN: B000VDDB6G
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,874 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Division Day’s debut full-length "Beartrap Island" stands as a wildly diverse combination of both supremely hard-hitting and finely-shaded exploratory tracks. Recorded in 7 long weekends over the course of 2005 at producer/engineer Scott Solter's (John Vanderslice, the Mountain Goats, Court and Spark) San Francisco-based analog studio, "Beartrap" Island has been augmented with a few new songs for its debut on Eenie Meenie Records.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All over the place, January 14, 2008

By 

John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beartrap Island (Audio CD)

Tracks remind me of the Strokes, chamber-pop meets alt-country, standard indie-rock these days-- yearning vocals, layered instruments, slow to steady pacing-- and most of all Grandaddy. Perhaps they share with that last band a Central California ambiance, and an love of reflective, if rather stylized (if not so ironic or self-conscious) past pop-rock. Certainly less psychedelic than fellow Santa Cruzians Comets on Fire; maybe closer to that band's Aaron Chesny in his Six Organs of Admittance solo work?

I'm not sure if the band named itself after another recent alt-rock standard, Elliot Smith; that track was one of his best. However, Division Day's less captivated than Smith by the Beatlesque aura. They are also not as quirky as Jason Lytle was in singing, and the playing's less twee. Also, Division Day devotes attention to a sound that emphasizes direction rather than posing.

Still, for these strengths, the band needs time to formulate a more distinctive sound. My wife thought they sounded at their best rather like Yo La Tengo. Division Day does, like YLT, know its rock history. And, like YLT, with time they may mature into a band that incorporates their influences into a more dramatic sound that plays to each member's talent.

The tone here remains too derivative at times. The songs jump from style to style-- the reggaeish track at the center slows the momentum down considerably. Admittedly, this is their first full-length, and perhaps tellingly much time passed between this and their e.p. "The Mean Way In" (the band does title their releases well). This album itself is an expanded version of an earlier release.

I will keep an ear out for the band, and I wish them well as they continue with their evolution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Debut, November 21, 2007

By 

Sao Paulo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beartrap Island (Audio CD)

Production is this album's only flaw. This would have been a stellar debut in the vein of the stylistically similar Silversun Pickups' "Carnavas" had they pared it down. As the review suggests, the album is somewhat experimental, but those tracks are completely useless.

The band meanders through eight tracks, with the exception of track 5, "Light Out", until the album really gets focused with track 9, the haunting "Dayenu". "Colorguard" is the standout track on the album, but keeping with the inexplicable production choices it is about a minute too long, so you will never hear it on the radio.

This is a very talented band who like many others have released an unfocused, experimental debut full length. However, unlike under-the-radar bands like Frank Jordan, Hockey Night, and Lake Trout, this album produces some excellent tracks and is not all about potential. Less could have made it so much more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a much wider audience, August 24, 2007

By 

There'd be plenty of stars And not too many "... (Yorkshire , England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beartrap Island (Audio CD)

Excellent album from Santa Cruz indie band Division Day.Vocals & keys Rohner Segnitz, guitarist Ryan Wilson, bassist Seb Bailey, and drummer Kevin Lenhart have created a diverse,melodic,emotional & original debut.Musically experimental, there is plenty of variation,alt folk~country,electronica,post rock & dream pop enhanced with interesting lyrics & the gentle heartfelt fragile voice of Rohner Segnitz help make this a compulsive listen from start to finish & repeated plays are guaranteed.