Stunning Models On Display (2025)
The older I get the less in tune I am with what's going on with newer bands. I'm not intentionally falling out of touch, but through a combination of lack of time and lack of bands working in the sounds that are most pleasing to my ears, it tends to happen. And more so with each passing year. It would be easy to get depressed about it, but it's just as easy to say "I Hate The Kids" and embrace my inner curmudgeon. Where I'm going with this is that more and more, I rely on good natured folks to alert me of some of the newer bands floating around out there that might strike my fancy. And that's what happened with Ceylon Sailor.
They reached out to me and asked if I wanted an LP to write about and described themselves as a "90s-college-radio-styled indie rock band." I mean, once they said "90s" I wasn't going to turn it down. After spending some time with this album, I can definitely say that I'm glad they sent it over. This is some solid, catchy indie rock and while they're not exactly reinventing the wheel or anything, they are writing good songs and playing them well. And these days, that's more than a lot of bands are doing.
As I'm listening to them, I'm actually struggling to find a lot of 90s indie rock bands to compare Ceylon Sailor to. They're not as weird as Pavement and they're not as playful as Built To Spill. They're not as crunchy and rough as Archers of Loaf and they're not as punk as Superchunk. They don't freak out like Modest Mouse and they don't suck like Neutral Milk Hotel. I keep hearing a more upbeat version of bands that more made their mark in the early 2000s. Early Death Cab For Cutie, Snow Patrol and Sweet John Bloom are the ones that first come to mind, with Sweet John Bloom being the most similar of the three.
Where Ceylon Sailor takes things into more interesting ground is the extra instrumentation. We've got some horns over hear and maybe a little banjo over there, but it's never added in a pretentious way. There are times where bands throw in goofy crap just for the sake of it, but everything on Here We Lie serves the song in a way that you kind of can't imagine it working without this bonus layer of sound. All in all, it's a fun record. While it's not going to blow your mind with something you've never heard before, it's bound to impress you with it's consistency, competency and general good feelings. Maybe it isn't the sort of record that I'll be playing constantly, but there are times that I do want to listen to this sort of thing and I'm glad they sent it over.
Ceylon Sailor - Here We Lie:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lnuzWYgjMLdz4PJTyc4JlPLDCOZ87ZrIA
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