Cool Sounds - Bystander
Indie/Pop – Released February 12, 2021 – 9 songs, 35 mins
*****REID’S PICK*****
ROZ
Is this really happening? Am I really digging up my passport and heading back to the land down under? I mean, when duty calls I guess.
From what I had read before digging into Bystander, Cool Sounds is an indie/pop group from Melbourne, Australia that have made a name for themselves in the Australian indie music scene. We've been reviewing a lot of Aussie music since starting Too Sweet Reviews, and I mean a lot. With most of this ending up being higher quality music, the bar was set high for this unknown (to me) band. Now, did they reach that bar?
Admittedly, this is going to be one of my shortest reviewed albums yet - I just don't really have much to expand upon on the production side of Bystander nor do I have much else to deconstruct from the songs either. What I will say is this: I do believe that this is a talented group of folks. The guitarist clearly has talent, the pianist as well - I just really couldn't get behind the vocal style implemented by Dainis Lacey. His style definitely seems like an acquired taste and probably isn’t going to be for everyone. Myself? I found myself flip flopping between enjoying his voice and hating it from track to track.
For instance, Plains has a fantastic classic rock, psychedelic vibe to it (chock full of electric guitar, piano, and even a damn saxophone) which was inevitably marred by his word enunciation and octave sliding. Human Statue and Netherlands were also standouts that I enjoyed except for the guy’s voice. On the flip side, it wasn’t enough to turn me off from great tracks such as Crimson Mask (catchy as hell, the melody is fantastic), Church Bells (love the synth work) and South of France (other than the Australian culture and history references; sorry Albert Namatjira, your paintings were dope after I googled who you were).
I really enjoyed some of the songs on this album but the lead singer's singing style is just a bit too goofy for me. Like I mentioned before, I’m sure it’s an acquired taste for some however it will definitely end up turning people away. I recommend that every reader gives Bystander a listen and decides for themselves – you’ll either love it or absolutely hate it.
Overall Rating: 6.2/10
Favourite Song: Church Bells
REID
I’ve run out of ways to introduce TSR band choices from Australia. (Yada yada yada down under honk honk). The title track of this album came on in a playlist and I enjoyed the quirky guitar lick. Cool Sounds is a killer band name too so I gave it a three song test run and decided it was worth a shot.
A pro of the test run was finding Plains, which just so happens to be the opener. A great jam that I’ll keep in the rotation. The cons were a mostly underwhelming 35-minute compilation of songs. There were a lot of cool sounds throughout (pun absolutely intended) including the consistently solid guitar, the piano in South of France and the keys/trumpet mix in Colours of Protest. The vocalist, Dainis Lacey, who happens to be the only constant band member, is certainly an acquired taste. His style worked on a few of the songs but otherwise fell short of taking the music to the next level.
Most songs on Bystander piqued my interest briefly but lost me shortly after. I’ll look back on this album as a big meh with a couple of singles.
Overall Rating - 6.0/10
Favourite Song - Plains
LUNDI
I’m just going to be brutally honest here. I wish I was a bystander to this album and never had to take part in listening to it. I simply found limited things to get excited about with Cool Sounds Bystander and hope to never listen again.
Cool Sounds offers up a very basic Alt Pop style and the only positive thing I have to say is that the guitarist is good. I don’t think many of the additional instruments or musical elements are placed well throughout the tracks and the drum lines are basic to the point of boring.
I will concede that I could get by with an instrumental version of this album to relax to on a sunny day but the lead singer makes this downright unlistenable. Half the time I don’t know what words he is singing and the other half I’m left wondering what he means. The album honestly irritated me to a point that I had to force myself to listen to it and it straight up distracted me from multi-tasking.
I hope these guys never read my review because I feel bad about this score but the album offers next to nothing. Replace the lead singer and maybe I’ll revisit. At least I knew this was bad from the get go and I could spend a part of this week with my favourite classics.
Overall Rating: 2.0/10 (two points for the guitarist)
Favourite Song: N/A (a TSR First)