Manchester’s Sea Fever formed in 2019, a five-piece collective of members drawn from acts like New Order, Section 25, and Johnny Marr’s band. They are fronted by Iwan Gronow on vocals and guitars, alongside singer Beth Cassidy, the collective also features Tom Chapman on bass, guitars, synths and programming and Phil Cunningham on guitars, while powering the band’s pulsing beats is Elliot Barlow. They release their second album `Surface Sound` this month and Tom Chapman has said of the album “It’s an album full of hope and melancholy. It was written through a difficult period of my life, dealing with a breakup and the loss of my father. I immersed myself in my work on a daily basis and used music as my solace and therapy to deal with the various waves of emotions.”
`Breaking Out` leads us in and it’s an upbeat slice of classy electronic synth pop with Beth Cassidy`s voice as the perfect foil to Iwan Gronow`s on this opening number. It sounds like all your best electronic favourites rolled into one. We have in `Go to Ground` a pulsating offering which was described by Iwan as “a no-nonsense song about ambition and change.” There`s plenty of catchy hooks on this composition which had a slight `True Faith` vibe.
`Shouldn’t Have Been this Way` has a heavy electronic ambience which really suits this quite introspective musing. There`s a hell of a lot going on throughout `Sincere to Some` which at times had some Middle eastern hues, dreamy thoughtful passages, melodica tinges and a rhythmic percussive beat driving it along.
`Able Eyes` is a delightful slow burn which reminded me at times of `Sweet Jane` from the Velvet Underground. Another meditative track that seems to hint at variation and change. I felt there was a slight undertow of menace throughout `Thrills, Kicks and Lies` which has a throbbing beat, keys, and Beth`s enticing vocals.
`Triggers Us` had an almost robotic-ness about it and gave the allure of remoteness, isolation, or detachment whereas for me `Loose Cut` was kind of trippy and hypnotic.
`Truth Dare` seems to slowly awaken before bursting to life, a song that seems to relate to desire and longing and moves along with a chugging guitar and driving bass line with what may be brass tinges or similar. This release closes out with `Seen as a Lifeline` which is fairly fast paced with an expeditious rhythmic percussive beat including pulsing cymbals and synth textures and colours.
They say that the second album is always the difficult one but it never feels that way here with `Surface Sound`. There was enough variety to keep you absorbed during this electronic tinged submission and it`s the kind of album that i`m sure I’ll find something new that I hadn`t discovered before, each time I return to listen.
Rating 8.5/10
