‘American Empire’ is the debut full-length from Midwest America’s The Sun And The Sea, and it’s set to be self-released this summer. It’s ten tracks of ambient indie-rock with an electronic and chilled undercurrent throughout.
From the outset The Sun and The Sea showcase a really light and airy vibe. ‘Follow The Light’ drifts through a dream-like bridge filled with subtle piano notes and a sullen beat. It’s enjoyable, melodic, and perfect for a spot of background music when sunbathing. The track never really takes off though and that’s something that you do quickly hear in this album. Both ‘You’ and ‘There’s Nothing We Can Do’ are solid listens but neither end up exciting or memorable. The latter does have an excellent beat that’s very reminiscent of 80s euro-pop, but it needed some movement in the vocals or a break out section to bring it to life. That’s not to say the vocals aren’t well delivered though – they have an impressive range and it’s both soothing and well matched to the lo-fi beats on offer.
‘Drive Me Home’ is the highlight of ‘American Empire’. It builds momentum with a progressive drumbeat and has a great pace through the chorus and into the bridge. It’s very reminiscent in structure and delivery to Death Cab For Cutie’s ‘Plans’ actually and that’s definitely a selling point for us. You start to hear more of that through ‘Under the Gun’ and into ‘All I’ve Ever Known’ too. Unfortunately the high points are never particularly glorious though and the lack of a biting point does become an issue.
There are two sides to this coin though and ‘American Empire’ can definitely make an impact. Towards the back of the album you hear real potential for The Sun And The Sea to appear on numerous movie soundtracks over the next few years. You can imagine ‘Chaos And The Calm’ playing out a well-shot reflective moment in a blockbuster, or ‘Hold On’ (which is effectively a vocal free interlude) being used to bring out a fragile and worried scene in an indie-movie. It’s a compliment too – there are very few bands that carry that poignant and dramatic sound as well as this.
‘American Empire’ is not the big hitting indie-rock album that you’re hoping for. It’s subtle, takes time to build, and is far more reflective than you may expect from the former The Graduate members.
TOM BECK