Static & Silence

Sundays | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 1997)
• Original Release Date: September 23, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000003TCJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,233 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No static, no silence... thankfully, February 19, 2005

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Static & Silence (Audio CD)

Five years elapsed between the Sundays' second and third album. But those five years were worth it: "Static and Silence" is a reflective, increasingly mature album, crafted with plenty of new influences and centered on Harriet Wheeler's ethereal voice. It's the best kind of pop music -- beautiful, deep and rich.

It starts off on strong footing: "Summertime" is breezy and catchy ("Romantic Piscean seeks angel in disguise...") before settling into a slower tempo, The majority of the songs -- like the lyrically vivid "Folk Song" and teen-crush anthem "She" -- shimmer in a guitar haze, slower and more pensive.

"Another Flavour" is a bouncy slice of pop-rock, a deviation from the slower tempo of the rest of the album. But the obvious highlight -- though not the catchiest single -- is "Monochrome," a song about watching the first landing on the moon: "And the world is watching with joy/We hear a voice from above and it's history." It's pure magic to listen to.

The lush pop sound of the past two albums is still in "Static and Silence," but there's a bit of deviation in it. It's less ethereal -- a match for Wheeler's changed voice -- more solid and grounded. More mature, in fact. The somberness that has been there since "Reading Writing and Arithmetic" is still in place, but it's less that of the young than of people who have lived as adults.

Wheeler's voice is sweet, as it was before. But she's grown into it a little, sounding richer and fuller and more in control. But that wistful tinge is still there, even when singing songs that just focus on love in cold cities. While the tone is mellower, the Sundays haven't lost their songwriting knack: "Summer sky and a throat bone dry/And the fields are all gold/Dusty lane with a song in my brain/And it stoned me to my soul."

The shimmering guitar work, something the Sundays are known for, is given more texture with stuff like brass and live drums. That texture adds to the achy-yet-full-bodied sound of the music. And the guitar riffs sound a bit more rhythmic, rather than airy and fluid.

The Sundays' third album is a sweet, fragile, achy collection of memorable pop songs. It's a bit less dreamy and a little more forward, but the five-year absence only added maturity to their sound.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funkier, more fun Sundays than usual., April 17, 2000

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Static & Silence (Audio CD)

Blind was The Sundays' best album thanks to its ethereal beauty and rich soundscapes, and Reading, Writing & Arithmetic the band's biggest success, but Static & Silence contains the sunniest of Sundays tracks, "Summertime". Basically a breezy three-chord wonder with synth effects, a vibrant beat and a lovely but playful lyric ("Romantic Piscean seeks angel in disguise...Liverpudlian lady seeks sophisticated male..."), and Harriet Wheeler with her most coy, good-humoured vocal performance to date. This was one of the best songs of 1997 and was criminally overlooked; about half a dozen people have asked me what it was, not knowing the band, the song or the album.

There are still the breathtakingly beautiful Sundays moments and involving textures aside from the fun factor: "Folk Song", "Homeward", "She" and "When I'm Thinking about You" shimmer with the usual ringing guitars, the Wheeler croon, and gentle but never timid backbeat. This album represents a grown-up Sundays (Harriet and David Gavurin had a baby in the five years between Static & Silence and Blind), and they're all the better for it, with a greater degree of ease, maturity, and melodic sense than ever.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Classic. Perfection on a plastic disc., January 13, 2006

By 

Christopher Phillips (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Static & Silence (Audio CD)

I can't say enough good things about this album. I was a bit put off by the extremely pop nature of the first single, Summertime. I took a chance and bought the record anyway and I'm so glad I did. Nearly every song on the record will get under your skin and they're all so gorgeous. I am fascinated by the concept of perfection in pop music and this album is THE epitome. The songwriting, the production and performance are all flawless. Static and Silence is so brilliant it virtually glows. If you could open a window to heaven I am certain this is what you would hear.