Friday 27 July 2012

THE GALLEONS by THE GALLEONS (2012, own label)


Brighton-based folk 6-piece The Galleons occupy a space somewhere between US country-folk sensation The Civil Wars and gentle Scottish indie sorts Belle & Sebastian.

Singers Beth Chesser and Ben Brockett duet on all songs, their vocals working together much as classic Simon & Garfunkel, Beth taking the higher line and Ben taking the lower softer parts. Together the sound is soothing and dreamy. 

They are backed by a group of very talented musicians, piano, drums and some exquisite guitar playing. Together they create a wonderfully melodic noise. At times they reminded me of the mellower moments of Bright Eyes album best album 'I'm Wide Awake It's Morning'. But what Conor Oberst does with Bright Eyes is to inject a little bit of danger into his acoustic proceedings. The Galleons are perhaps a little too controlled and if I could suggest anything it would be to say that little bit of 'crazy' could go a long way. The singers barely raise their voice above a whisper. You can't imagine them joyously screaming at their band "let' fuck it up boys make some noise!" like Oberst would. After twelve songs I was dying to see them loose control a little and just sound like they were having more fun.

The Galleons are apparently the "friendliest band in Brighton" but whilst the performance absolutely note perfect, on the next album it would be nice to see more of a glint in their eye. Nice though.


The album is available for digital download for £5 from here...



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