MUSIC BLOG

Built for the Sea

• Author: None
• Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008

BUILT FOR THE SEA
Built for the Sea
(Self-released; 2006)

Built for the Sea's self-released, eponymous debut album plays like a well-crafted novel in which good exposition, rising action, and an emotionally ambiguous resolution form a complete picture. If you're into relaxing on your screened-in porch in your rattan rocking chair on a drizzly, dreary day… Built for the Sea is your soundtrack. 

The album sets a tone early on with lots of soft piano, soaring background harmony, and the lilting lead vocals of singer Lia Rose. The arrangements, as well as her voice, are reminiscent of Emma Pollack and The Delgados. Much like that band, Built for the Sea makes calming, delicate pop music that draws you in with deceptively simple lyrics. The record establishes a mood quickly with "We Now Know,"  the slow ballad opener. The songs build their arrangements patiently, with Lia singing her own harmony and the band alternating between sparse verses and richly textured choruses. 

The standout track is "Dive In," with a rhythm guitar tone borrowed equally from old Police records and Link Wray. Besides just sounding cool, the surf rock-style heavy reverb guitar tone makes even more sense as setting the scene for a song about the ocean. "Dive In" builds to an excellent climax with stacked vocals and culminates in two well-placed bars of 6/8 time (in an other wise 4/4 song) that hammer it home. Never ones to break the flow, Built for the Sea follow it with "Awake," a song that retains the 6/8 time signature and really keeps the album moving along. I wish more bands wrote pop songs in 6/8...it's a completely underused device that breaks up monotony and gives songs a real sense of urgency.

After that, the album lulls us into a sweet, simple resolution before its closing track, "Dreamer." In it, Lia sings, "go to sleep and dream for us all,"  and you can't help but get the feeling that she's been doing that already, with Built for the Sea backing her up.

[Rob Kassees]

[STREAM] Buit for the Sea: Various Tracks