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A Closer Listen

As summer approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we start to look for music we can play in the car with the windows down.  Ironically, follow is from Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, which is descending toward winter.  Perhaps Australians will look at the lovely cover art and translucent blue vinyl and dream of warmer days; or perhaps they will embrace tracks such as “Cold Hands,” which more properly reflect their season.  Either way, Old Haunts is a joy to play.  While landing squarely in the post-rock camp, the music often touches upon the alternative rock styles of U2 (“Sentimental Health”), The Killers (“Any Small Thing Can Save You”) and Kodaline (“Fields of Gray”), gracing it with crossover potential.

This is the septet’s debut album, arriving on the heels of three singles, which are also the three opening tracks.  “Glimmer” is the Big Track, bursting with melody and power, positive and propulsive, at only four minutes long a potential anthem.  “Isla” is introspective, featuring its own oceanic image, a trio of swimming drakes.  The water is even more placid here than on the album’s cover.  In like fashion, the pacing prompts listeners to slow down and enjoy the moment.  “Sentimental Health” begins in languid fashion and picks up the pace as it moves along, culminating in an emotional peak.  The same holds true for “The Climb,” with classic peaks and valleys, post-rock’s bread and butter.

Yet the album’s finest track is its closer, “Fields of Gray,” at seven minutes and change too long to be a single, but likely the live favorite, due to the ebullient, wordless chant at the end.  In this moment, the instrumental band becomes interactive, inviting listeners in the car and at the stadium to sing along.  There’s only a short distance between these “woah-oh”s and those found in Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” and for those who may be wondering, that’s a compliment.  The band is having fun, and we’re having fun as well.  Old Haunts is an excellent debut, well-thought out from presentation to execution, appealing in any season.  (Richard Allen)