Customer Reviews

With the Tides

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent cd. personally its the best one i've picked up since coldplay's rush of blood to the head.

I hear elements of richard ashcroft, stone roses, travis and u2 in With the Tides but make no mistake their sound is very much their own. After hearing this one I will be picking up their first cd.

What makes With the Tides so good imho is these guys have blended melody, harmony (harkening back to the greatest sounds of the 60's) and poignant lyrics into a thematically cohesive, sometimes haunting, and yet touchingly beautiful soundscape. It is both personal and universal which is no small accomplishment. These guys are really talented and I wish them much succes, they deserve it.

Its hard to pick stand out tracks since the whole cd is escellent but my favs right now are: loosen your hold, colours in waves, same old story, mend these trends, silver sun & threadbare. All in all, a superb cd well worth the money spent.

Regards

South is an absolutely amazing band, and their album "With the Tides" is so wonderful it is overwhelming. It encompasses almost anything I was expecting, and I was definitely expecting great things. Their music can be both upbeat, and melancholy at the same time, making for phenomenal Brit-pop/rock. I don't think I can think of one song on this CD that I don't like, but the standout tracks are "Motiveless Crime," "Colours in Waves," "Loosen Your Hold," "Natural Disasters," "What I Find," "Nine Lives," and "Fragile Day." South really has its own unique sound to it that I can't compare to the likes of anything else. However, I would say that fans of The Doves, Turin Brakes, Coldplay, Keane, Radiohead, Gravenhurst, Frou Frou, Metric, Big Star, and other such artists would be as blown away as I was by South...

In fact, fans of any music should check out South, because there is something about their music that is like an expression of universal ideas. The sounds, the lyrics, everything about their music melds together to make songs that overwhelm the mind and ears alike...

So go out and purchase this album! You may even be as flabbergasted as I was that something could be so fierce, powerful, and hard hitting, yet soft, melancholy, gentle, and undemanding all at the same time. Just listen. You won't regret it.

For those who find Radiohead's last few albums too challenging, South could be what you are looking for. Their second album, "With the Tides," swirls around in the blue depths of melody as if it has "The Bends." Unlike their debut, 2001's "From Here On In," which reflected the eletronica sensibilities of its producer, Mo' Wax chief James Lavelle, "With the Tides" is a bit more rock oriented, thanks to Dave Eringa, who was behind the board with the Manic Street Preachers, Ash and Idlewild. Jaime McDonald has a achingly gorgeous voice, and he puts it to effective use on "Motiveless Crime," a tune whipped into a storm by whacking drums, burning bass and surging strings. "Colours in Waves" uses many of the same elements, but has a fury all its own. "Loosen Your Hold" incorporates harpsichord, banjo and baroque touches, the gentle "Nine Lives" is colored with harp and cello, "Mend These Trends" trips along on a spacey groove and "Silver Sun" sounds as remote as a lost planet. No bold new ground broken here, then, just a satisfying collection of songs.

South have changed their sound a bit. "From Here On In" was a nice, laid-back take on early '90's Britpop, with a folksy, acoustic twist; lots of strumming on top of melancholy harmonies... sort of a ghostly tribute to shoegazing. It's a good album, with some standout tracks, but for the most part it seemed fairly bland.

"With the Tide" is a huge step forward. They've plugged in, adding dark and beautiful textures to their trademark harmony... there are definite tinges of dreampop here; wispy vocals, chiming, sweeping guitar work, and crisp, funky percussion over full-sounding rhythms. South are reminiscent of Ride at their apex, all color and emotion, but with inescapably tuneful hooks, yet with the gravitas of the Stone Roses and the darkness of Doves. Throw in some of the soaring melodies of the Manic Street Preachers and you've got some powerfully-addictive pop.

This is a great, emotional, beautifully-constructed album from an underappreciated young indie group. What a breath of fresh air after all the Nickelbacks, Matchbox Twenties and Justin Timberlakes that saturate mainstream radio.

South came out and really impressed me with their debut. I was one who thought that Paint The Silence was one of the Top 5 singles of 2002. While 'With The Tides' doesn't have anything that immediately grabs you like that, a few listens will reveal a steady, solid effort that is more polished and focused than their debut. Definitely recommended.

The atmospheric, sweeping sound of South's "With the Tides" is hard to take in at one sitting. It's thoughtful, pensive and a bit dismal, and slowly strips itself away to show the Brit-rockers' maturation as musicians. It's a bit darker and more stripped down than their debut, and has its passion welling up through the cracks.

It starts off with the solid mixture of rippling sound and sharp percussion in "Motiveless Crime." Then it shifts into two main types of music: the thunderstorm rock of "Colours in Crime" and "Natural Disasters," and the rich, eerie pop of "Loosen Your Hold" and "Nine Lives." The songs tend to blend more orchestral music with solid Brit-rock.

Things take a slightly different, less organic direction with the shimmering, plaintive pop of "Silver Sun," mellow electronica-rock, and surreal, compelling "Straight Lines to Badlines." After the gentle melody of "What I Find," South explodes into a whirlwind of sound with "Threadbare," full of howling, sweeping distortion that builds steadily to a crescendo.

South straddles the line between dreampop and the Stone Roses, which sounds like a disaster in the making. But it's not. "With the Tides" is quietly moody, thoughtful, with a vaguely rainy tone. It's not terribly catchy either, and it loses some of that Stone Roses vibe of "From Here On In." Instead, South goes for the atmospheric sound, keeping their textured riffs and complex instrumentation, but weaving the threads in a totally new pattern.

Obviously it's got the usual rock mix -- percussion, guitar, bass, and keyboards. And they do wonderful things with them, blending electronic flourishes in with their more stripped-down guitar rock. But they also give extra depth to their music by weaving in some orchestral grandeur, such as a harpsichord and string accompaniment.

Joel Cadbury's vocals have lost some of their laddish quality. He doesn't sound like a pub-crawler here, but lost and wounded. And there's a similar feel to the songwriting itself. It's very melancholy, but edged with a sort of forlorn optimism: "From this fear there may come light/stretch me out over this divide."

South dodges the sophomore slump with the polished, compelling "With the Tides." Don't expect a carbon copy of their first album -- just expect a rich mix of the majestic and the mournful.

While their debut album, From Here On In, brilliantly showed South's ability to make complex instrumentals, catchy riffs and pop tunes, it really lacked some depth.

Its good to see the band take a huge step in the direction of bands like Coldplay, Doves and Radiohead, and sit down and really work on each song, lyrically, and layer multiple guitar lines and orchestral input into them.

The result is fantastic, each and every song is great, and while the album generally holds the same mood the entire time, it doesn't lose focus. Also, they even managed to throw in a 2-minute instrumental at the end of the album, full of spiralling guitar riffs, heaps of tremelo picking and distortion...and it sounds terrific.

The best song of the lot has to be Silver Sun though, with its shimmering guitars and strong beat, and the last 30 seconds of the song is pure bliss!!

Highly Recommended, though I would probably buy it with From Here On In, because anyone could label these fellas another pop-band, but they are extremely talented multi-instrumental musicians...you should try figuring out of their songs, its bloody difficult!!

If you are shopping for a South album I would grab this one. A perfect blend of their talents, really captures the heart of the band and did I mention its reall really good.

'South' is one of those artists that you are either going to like, or dislike. I would not liken it to the extent that 'Boards of Canada' can segregate music listeners, but there are definitely some bits of their music that may make you shy away.

'With The Tides' starts out with a bit of a slow touch and moves onto Tracks 03 and 04, which are quite strong. The albums flows well and is a very enjoyable listen for many occasions. 'Silver Sun' is also a strong track which brings a bit of a 'Beetles' feel to it.

I highly recommend this album for those that like ambient music and indie (hard to use this word with them) with a bit of a post-rock feel.

Favorite Tracks: Track 03, Track 04, Track 06, Track 09

It's quite difficult to classify South -- perhaps similar in some ways to the shoegazer genre of Ride and Catherine Wheel, or maybe more like the Britpop of the Stone Roses and Charlatans UK. No matter who they're compared to however, one thing's for certain, South is a terrific band, and, to this reviewer, "With the Tides" is even better than their debut "From Here On In," which was very good indeed. Complex textured instrumentation with soaring vocals and choruses -- almost every song on "Tides" is a winner.

The first three songs set the stage for everything that follows and provides the listener with the range of the band. "Colours in Waves," might be my second favorite South song -- just behind "Paint the Silence" from "Here On In." "Natural Disasters," has an almost Beatlesque feel (think a more pop version of "Strawberry Fields Forever"). Like the Beatles, South isn't afraid to experiment with sound not normally associated with a rock and roll. Check out the harp in "Nine Lives," or the harpsichord in "Loosen Your Hold." "Same Old Story" could have been South's break-out song, as it's perhaps more "hit" oriented than the others, but the the essence of the band isn't compromised at all.

Songs 8 through 11 take the listener down gently with a more mellow approach, but the closer, "Threadbare," has a harder edge, almost reminiscent of Radiohead, as if South's telling us not to get too comfortable.

"With the Tides" has no weak songs and is quite incredible in its consistency. I would have awarded the album five stars if "Paint the Silence" was included on it rather than the prior album; but, even without this song, it just misses the top rating in my opinion.