Customer Reviews

Pace Is Glacial

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Pace Is Glacial is no match for the awesome The Problem With Me, but still a slightly-above average Seam album blows away most music I hear these days. Not every track on this album works, but when it does work, it gets it all right. Of particular note are "Get Higher", probably the most upbeat song on here, and "Inching Towards Juarez", a great quiet number that ever-so-slowly builds up its intensity. I've noticed on this album a move towards a more minimalist, quiet sound than in the past. But instead of losing their identity or getting boring, Seam is still, well, Seam. And while it often seems quite simple on the surface, there's more to it than you think. Not my favorite, but the more I play this album, the more I like it.

its the best album i've bought in the last year. seam isn't the kind of band where you listen to one of their songs once and you get hooked (unless you've seen them live). especially if you haven't been very invested in the indie rock scene, as i notice many seam buyers are kinda outside the circle of indie rock. well, this is a good place to start. favorite tracks of mine include include, "little chang, big city", "get higher", "intifada driving school", "nisei fight song", and "the prizefighters" (sup with the violence theme?). all excellent. buy this album. listen to it a couple times. listen to the lyrics. sooyoung is this incredibly gifted writer/singer, a genius/nerd/punk/intellectual's rebel with a telecaster in a rock band. give him a chance, and he'll blow you away.

the only reason i'm giving it four stars instead of five is because that would diminish how much i value their previous masterpiece, "are you driving me crazy". this album is less low-fi. its more polished. "pace is glacial", ironically, kinda picks up the pace from the last album. aydmc really defined the genre of "slowcore" in post-punk music. but the last album was more deeply personal for sooyoung, and it shows. this album gets personal as well, but in a far less direct way. its sooyoung singing through the eyes of another person, rather than himself, which he does magnificently mind you, but it cannot grasp the intense personal nature of aydmc. both "aydmc" and "pace is glacial" are must have albums.

all in all, buy this album. buy it right now.

This is my first experience with Seam but it certainly will not be my last. The album begins and ends with a single guitar but is filled in between with sonic texturing and beautiful melodies. This and Yo La Tengo's latest are two of the best albums I've had the pleasure of listening to this year.

Either you don't know them or you love them. Seam made some brilliant records, especially "the problem with me" is just near perfection. When I picked up "the pace is glacial" I had high expectations but still I feel there are left some weaknesses on this one. Personally I don't think Sooyoung Park is a good singer-he sings quite a lot on this one- but he can whisper very well. Luckily there are good, VERY very good songs on this disk (number 6 and 9) so it was worth the money. If you never heard of SEAM I suggest you buy one of the older albums first cause Seam is a very good band.

Widely considered a dissapointment, The Pace is Glacial actually has some on Seam's very greatest songs, including the anthematic, infallibly transporting and affecting "Little Chang, Big City" and the driving rocker "Intifada Driving School." Park's voice has mostly been moved up in the mix here, and some have suggested that this is a bad thing, but, although this argument holds some sway given songs like "In the Sun" (probably Seam's weakest ever song), the bigger problem with this album is the similarity of much of the latter part of the record. After a killer start, one is thinking that Pace will be a glorious carrer capper for Seam, moving succesfully from the gauzy sludge of the early albums into more pop-oriented territory. But unfortunately the record is stacked at the top, and the latter songs, like the aptly named "Inching Towards Juarez," while still sounding like Seam, and Bedhead, fail to deliver the necessary dynamics, and tend to settle in to repetitive jams that frequently promise to achieve lift-off, but nearly always settle back into complacency, and leave the listener with the aural equivalent of blue-balls. Still, this record is better than advertised, and, while far from their best work, actually may serve as a good entry point into the band's work, as it gives a taste of Seam's strengths while also offering some of their most immediately accessible, listener friendly material.

Reminiscent of early Smashing Pumpkins with a touch of shoegazer ambiance

This is Seam's best album. I know this judgement may sound strange because everybody affirm that their previous efforts are better, anyway I think that "The Pace Is Glacial" is a more mature work. Listen to it, it won't be a disappointment.

I've been a Seam fan since I first bootlegged "Headsparks" from my local college radio station (Mac from Superchunk played drums on it FYI.) I still find it hard to describe Seam. They're an acquired taste, on that becomes stronger and more defined as you consume more and more. Pop hooks, punky tempos, shoegazing tendencies, slow moodiness - they do it all. "Are You Diving Me Crazy" is their best, though I still haven't gotten "The Problem With Me" yet...all-in-all highly recommended.

I've waited quite some time for a group like this to come along .... though different, the best band since joy division for my money. Go for their earlier projects before anything else.

The Pace Is Glacial is definately the kind of C.D. that grows on you. It's some of the best music I've heard from a relatively unknown band. This is the first of their cd's that I bought and based on most of the songs I'll probably get another. A word of warning if you only like hard rock don't get this cd.