Count The Rings, which was released on the 6th of September, is a collection of B sides and personal favourites from The Annuals.
This is the group’s first European release since Be He Me, in 2006, an album which gained the group critical acclaim and led to tours with The Flaming Lips, Bloc Party and Calexico & Minus The Bear.
The experimental, progressive pop, six piece from North Carolina recorded and produced Count The Rings in their own hometown studio, Terpsikhore Studios, led by Adam Baker’s vocals, this album is an ‘all over the place’ display of enthusiasm, energy and youth, with tracks taken from their album, Such Fun, which was a US only release.
This album is such a progressive piece of work, that you have to listen to each track independently from the other as there is no flow or order to what you are offered on this 11 track record. However that is no bad thing and it certainly avoids any boredom associated to listening to track after track of similar sounding material.
Eyes In The Darkness is the first offering and the ultra catchy B side, kicks things off nicely with its Latin sound and infectious guitar licks at the chorus, leading into The Giving Tree, which tackles plucked acoustic guitar strings, flourishes of piano keys and violins, with the backing of warp speed drums and also Loxstep, another stand out track, which shows even more diversity with its sample filled flamenco sound, fuelled by synths and a very cheesy guitar riff.
Very experimental and very busy, this melodic album is a very good listen indeed. In a similar vein to Yeasayer’s new album Odd Blood and Arcade Fire’s, The Suburbs, this unique record encompasses various genres and packages them all into poppy, upbeat numbers.
Musically and vocally the sound is very good and lyrically Adam Baker is certainly talented also. This is a very decent collection of tracks which offer soundscapes as well as just sounds.
The space between the instruments and vocals is excellent and the production is very good too.
The album may lack enough cohesion and structure to make it a world beater, but it is after all, a collection of past works, rather than a track list of purposely composed material.
Stereoboard Rating. 7/10.
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The experimental, progressive pop, six piece from North Carolina recorded and produced Count The Rings in their own hometown studio, Terpsikhore Studios, led by Adam Baker’s vocals, this album is an ‘all over the place’ display of enthusiasm, energy and youth, with tracks taken from their album, Such Fun, which was a US only release.
