1) You’re a Wolf; 2) The Garden That You Planted; 3) I Made a Resolution; 4) Ses Monuments; 5) I Don’t Know If I’ll Be Back This Time
A short fix of cosy comfort food singer/songwriter indie rock, with big highlights.
Key tracks: "You're a Wolf", "Ses Monuments", "I Don't Know If I'll Be Back This Time"
There’s something rather embarrasingly music nerdy in thinking an EP is an artist’s best release - and double cliché hipster points if it’s their debut EP - but the format simply suits some artists nicely for one reason or another. Sea Wolf is an artist like this because the shorter format stops him from walking astray. Alex Brown Church is a decent songwriter who can write a really good, memorable song but who isn’t so strong that he could do it consistently for a full album. The closest he’s gotten is the debut Leaves in the River, but the oddly slick production is at odds with the material on it. So, a bite-sized chunk where every song matters, recorded in relation to Leaves in the River but in a less produced setting sounds like it could just be the exact right thing. And it is.
Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low doesn’t bring anything new to the table or even re-invent something, but it’s good. Church’s autumnal log cabin indie rock has a good sound, the melodies are strong and Church himself has a soft, calm tone that’s pleasant to listen to. That’s all the EP really needs. Part of Get to the River’s charm is that it doesn’t try hard to be a grand entrance or pull off any special tricks off its sleeve - it simply flows effortlessly without any hurry, gently strumming along so naturally it’s actually quite soothing to listen. Church falls squarely into a camp populated by hundreds of other songwriters like him, but for five songs he makes a really good argument to spare him some time.
“You’re a Wolf” is the obvious lead track - besides effectively being the lead single of the subsequent album, it’s got a punchier pace to the rest of the EP and is a little bit sharper with its hook. To put it short, it’s the most immediate of the bunch and serves as a fitting introduction to the world of Sea Wolf. On Leaves in the River it’s the easy highlight pick, but the rest of this release actually measures up to it pretty great in its own way. “The Garden That You Planted” is lush and autumnal, a pretty rainy day mood piece that says a lot with fairly few tricks. “I Made a Resolution” and “Ses Monuments” inject a little energy into the proceedings and follow in the footsteps of “You’re a Wolf”, though with a little less shine in their sound. Both could have been bombastically produced indie rock anthems in another lifetime: here, they are down to earth in their arrangement but those grand melodies are still there. The surprise ace in the sleeve of the EP turns out to be the closer “I Don’t Know If I’ll Be Back This Time”, though. It’s just Church and an organ for two minutes, but it’s a case where a simple arrangement ends up creating a spell-binding atmosphere: the two sounds form a mixture that has all the world’s content weariness on its shoulder, ready to be laid down as soon as the song finishes. It’s not quite a lullaby but it’s an effective farewell.
The 18 minutes goes by pretty fast and you could also say a bit too fast, considering how enjoyable the run through the five songs is. But as explained, the brevity helps to keep the EP a solid listen and if nothing else, it serves as a good segue to Leaves in the River. Even so, Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low isn’t a hidden treasure that would transcend its particular stylistic pigeon hole into something that’s a must listen - it’s the best Sea Wolf release, but not because it contains something unique and golden the subsequent albums didn’t have. It’s simply five consistently good, straightforward songs presented by a frontman who does his job just fine, and it doesn’t need to be anything more to warrant a spin.
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