Starting out cool, calm and collected, the debut tune from indie/alt-rock act San Diego, CA’s Seal Club lulls you into a bit of a false sense of security.
Coming across at first like a blend of American Football and Explosions in the Sky, you think you know where you stand. It poodles along politely for an extended introduction of around a minute, but then it drops. Waves of James Iha and Kevin Shields-esque guitars fight for space as a desperate vocal bellows at you from the depths of the abyss, and the drums pound away as the individual elements collide into an amorphous amalgamation of sound.
Essentially a shoegaze meets grunge/alt-rock song, The One You’re Looking For is a hell of a first tune. As mission statements go, this one means fucking business.
Seal Club consists of guitarist Ernesto Melendez, drummer Jeremy Allen and bass player David C Handley (who is also on engineering/mixing and production credits here). As well as playing in a couple of other bands (the heavier “sad core” outfit Virtue Signal and the punky trio Glitz), David is also the founder of English Breakfast Records – a one man record label that acts as a gateway to resources that are normally beyond the reach of the average budding musician by offering his services for free – at least while in this start up phase. Whether it’s recording, engineering, mixing or mastering – whatever! – David works with people remotely or on-site in his home-built studio on all sorts of requirements, so get in touch if you need some help. What an admirable initiative.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
