Customer Reviews

White Water, White Bloom [Vinyl]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I became a reviewer just so I could put in a positively ecstatic review of this cd.

Basically, I've waited FOREVER for this cd, and it hit me right in my sweet spot: artistic but accessible rock that rewards repeated listening. Here is what is unique about this cd: strings, organs, and a wide variety of instrumentation (20-some instruments are listed in the liner notes), each magically chosen as a perfect fit to each song. The heavy use of strings you might think would make the sound either schmaltzy or pretentious, but it is neither. The classical instruments work, for once, quite perfectly within the basic construct of traditional rock and folk. The songs are fairly simple, accessible melodies, but the strings and instrumentation give each a unique and engaging sound that makes you want to keep this cd on repeat forever!!

The lyrics are poetic and obscure enough to make you want to follow along with the printed version in hand. The vocals have a smoky, spooky edge that helps create an ethereal quality, the perfect complement to the cello that sometimes harmonizes and sometimes counters with the basic melody line.

Have you ever been so enthralled by a cd that you're afraid to buy something else by the same group for fear of being disappointed? That's where I am with this one - I think I'll wait a couple months before I try another.

Taking the name from Jack London's 1904 novel, The Sea Wolf, Sea Wolf is the incarnation of the musical ideas of singer/songwriter Alex Church. While Church remains the sole composer of every song on this second full-length release for Sea Wolf, a large number of musicians contributed to the creation of this album including Lisa Fendelander and Theodore Liscinski who both toured with Sea Wolf following 2007's Leaves in the River.

White Water, White Bloom opens with "Wicked Blood," a track very similar to "You're a Wolf," the song that put the band on the map, but orchestrated on a much larger scale. This new, expanded sound may be due, in part, to the band's new producer, Mike Mogis. Mogis is best known as one of the chief musical contributors to the band Bright Eyes, a band Sea Wolf has often drawn comparison to.

The addition of a string ensemble to many of the tracks found on this album makes already poetically beautiful songs even more pleasing to the ear. Songs like the title track, "White Water, White Bloom," seem to take ideas from bands like the Decemberists and make use of feature instruments which help to tell the story being told in the song. Church has made a great number of improvements to Sea Wolf's sound since 2007 and with his talent for song writing, Sea Wolf will no doubt become a well known name in the music industry in the years to come.

It may be a long time before Alex Church is selling out large venues with his music, but Sea Wolf will earn a much larger fan base in every age group with this album. For anyone looking to give White Water, White Bloom a listen, this late September release is perfect for a drive through the Adirondacks this fall as the leaves change.

Similar Artists: Cat Stevens, The Decemberists

Track Suggestion: The Traitor

This album definitely shows Sea Wolf growing and changing which everyone should want to see in a band. The opening song "Wicked Blood" really hits you full force with a fast, catchy drum beat which was the exact opposite of their debut.
There is much to like about this album, I have already listened to it dozens of times and although I do like their debut album "Leaves in the River" more, this is expected from any fan that fell in love with that album however; I still welcome the change and want even more from this band.

Another thing is I still think Alex brings in some of his classic Sea Wolf melody in many of the tracks such as "Orion & Dog" this is a very nice mixed album.

Anyone should give this album a listen whether a new fan or old, it's an excellent album and band.

When I listened to this, I couldn't understand how people weren't playing this music from their rooftops, from open windows, and serenading their lovers with this stuff. The album is simply beautiful. My favorite ones are Dew on the Grass and the title song, but all the songs in this album are brilliant and evocatively written. The strings are interestingly used and add to the musicality - they also make for a different sound from Leaves in the River.

The best part for me, is that the songs are never predictable in the turns of their lyrics and the music. This is what the best music does, lulls the listener with its beauty, yet surprises you. This ain't just music, its art.

This album, like the one before, is well crafted and sets the tone for new bands of the Indie genre. Sea Wolf sounds like a near cousin to Cold Play in terms of the artist's creativity and inventiveness. I plan to buy each new album as they come out.

This album does have a bigger sound than in the past but I really like it - just a matter of personal preference.

I was visiting a friend in Omaha and shopping in a Boarders. They were playing White Water, White Bloom in the store. The music grabbed me the first time I heard it! It just made me feel good, the chord progressions, arrangements, it all just hits you at level you can't quite describe. There are so many sounds reminiscent of bands gone by, but this album is anything but rehash of songs of yesteryear. It is somehow familiar like a well fitting pair of jeans yet new with unexpected rifts and bridges. I hate to compare Sea Wolf to other bands because they are uniquely themselves, yet I hear cues that take me back to band I loved growing up. I'm quite diverse in my musical likes, so some bands I might mention might seem strange in the same sentence. I'll say this much, the style of this album does take a cue from the Beatles (only in the broadest sense) and thusly have some qualities found in some of the great bands that have embraced this direction before. OK, who do they remind me of? REM a bit in musical style, Alex Church has a vocal style that, at times. Sounds a lot like Tom Petty. Some parts of the arrangements and production made me also think a little of the Moody Blues and ELO. Not to say that this band is a knock off of any of the aforementioned and Alex if you ever read this please don't get mad as I am not trying to label you and your sound. Sea Wolf may remind me a bit of some of these other great bands, but they bring it al together in a solid, organic, down to earth style that is uniquely Sea Wolf. Pick up a copy of this album, you will not regret it!

I have been looking forward to this album for a few weeks, ever since I heard Wicked Blood. If you're familiar with Sea Wolf, then White Water, White Bloom won't surprise you too much. The same tight melodies and restrained manner from their first album are still present, although WWWB is a touch heavier on the drums and string arrangements. If you're new to the band, then either WWWB or Leaves in the River is a great place to start.

3.5 stars

I feel that there are two things that I need to state right from the start.
#1. I absolutely love pretty much everything Sea Wolf has done prior to this.
and
#2. I've only listend to "White Water, White Bloom" twice in its entirety.

With that said, I regrettably have to say that I'm fairly disappointed with their latest album. I know the word "disappointed" gets thrown out there a lot. Everybody seems to be disappointed by everything nowadays. But I can't really think of any other way to put it.
There was something about Sea Wolf's debut album "Leaves in the River" and its preceding EP "Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low" that was, for lack of a better word, enchanting. Singer/songwriter Alex Brown Church's mellow vocals were front and center with the excellent instrumentation never overwhelming his beautiful lyrics.

I had been reading that he decided to assemble a full band and that this new album was going to have a bigger sound. This really didn't seem like a bad thing until I started listening to the album. Its a lot louder and a little more in your face than his previous releases. Neither intimate nor haunting like "Leaves". In that album you could pretty much make out each and every word in those songs. In "Bloom" the lyrics seem to get lost under the heaviness of some of the songs. On top of that I felt that the songwriting wasn't nearly as affecting (to me personally, anyways) as his work in "Leaves". This is NOT a bad album by any stretch of the imagination. There are a lot of quality songs and not a bad one in the bunch. The title track is damn good. But the whole album just doesn't stand out like its predecessor did. With "Bloom" Sea Wolf lost some of its mystique. Hopefully it'll return the next time around.

NOTE: Find "Song of the Magpie" by Sea Wolf. Augusten Burroughs commisioned them to read his latest memoir "A Wolf at the Table" and respond with an original song. "Magpie" is that song. And its one of the most genuine, heartbreaking songs I've heard in a while.

"White Water, White Bloom" smoothes the few edges from "Leaves in the River," Sea Wolf's previous recording, through a lush production and more balanced sound. Lead Wolf, Alex Church offers plenty of thought for introspective folk but everything here pretty much stays the course, rarely surprising the listener with new ideas musically or thematically on this well-crafted recording.

Yet despite being a very listenable album---there is not a truly bad track here---"White Water, White Bloom" is very much another generic folk-rock album adrift in an ocean of mellowness. One feels as though Mr. Wolf and company could infuse things with a bit more energy and leave this approach in the river.