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I
am assuming that the AM Radio friendly sound quality
that comes from this record is intentional. The Setting
Son’s nugget-like, garage-loving, psychedelic-flowing,
pop-laden aesthetics merit it and compliment it. Spring
of Hate is an album for pop lovers. And it ain’t no
radio pop. There is not tried mass-tested formula in
display here. This is true vintage music. Rock when it
was all about lollipops laced with mind benders.
Psychedelic garage pop, at its best and, on some occasions,
its sticky worst.
Despite the
album’s title, and the weirdo hippie artwork, you listen to The
Setting Son and suddenly you feel happy and nostalgic. Even if
you want to feel a bit of hate, this will give you none of
that. It’s weird alright, and though rocking, there is something
childish about the whole thing. Kool Aid comes to mind. Jim
Jones, feeding his followers something sweet in exchange for
death.
A couple of
years back I reviewed the Setting Son’s self-titled effort and
was surprised to find some true gems in it. Some of the songs
were beyond sticky. The Setting Son is the brainchild of
Sebastian Kristiansen, a young man who doesn’t bother hiding his
influences.
What
surprises about Spring of Hate is first the sound; it’s even
less polished than his debut album. This denotes Kristiansen’s
reverence for the old style and true vintage psychedelia. The
guitars for instance, have a dreamlike ring to them. And then
there is the twang.
Then there is Kristiansen’s voice; a
soothing childish and thin ambiguous wail that could come from a
teenage school girl or a Danish adult male. No difference.
And then
there are the tunes, which in Spring of Hate are lighter and
more whimsical than in the Son’s first outing. There are still
the hardest hitting rockers; “Wrong From the Start” has
Kristiansen’s trademark vocal lines and some nice keyboard
lines, “Depression” contrary to what the title might say, is as
fast as The Setting Son is willing to set. And then there are
the moodiest numbers, “Demons in My Head” is a slow dreamy cut
with guitars that recall the pitch of a sitar. Like its past
work, Kristiansen’s new creation is at times beautiful and very
often at odds between the lyrics and the moods of the music.
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