Travel By Sea – Two States And The Blindness That Follows

I first wrote about Travel By Sea back in June 2008.  Since then I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on their progress and it’s with great pleasure that I can announce they have a brand, spanking new album to self release on 19th October called Two States And The Blindness That Follows via Cdbaby, itunes etc.

Having given the album literally dozens of listens, I come away each time with a feeling of complete satisfaction, from the very first punchy guitar riff on the simply incredible, dreamy opening track eventually, you are full of promise and hope, pleading that the rest of the album is just as good and not that old, cheap trick of putting the best track on first for immediate impact which keeps you interested for a few listens before you realise that the rest of the album is inferior.Well, do not worry, this band is not full of cheap tricks.

In fact if anything this album improves as it goes along on it’s dreamy, country road and if you are not convinced by track four’s Light In The Darkness and it’s final four minute hypnotic, quite breathtaking ending then I’m not sure what will, a great live track I imagine with John Phinney playing a blinder on pedal steel (as he does throughout) However, if for some reason reason you are still looking to be convinced by this albums brilliance, by the time you hear The Road, a track inspired by the Californian fires, should be enough to do so which on the surface seems quite a simple laid back track but when you sit back and listen to the lyrics it leaves you with a feeling of complete loss and utter hopelessness not only because it makes you think about how awful it must have been for those affected by the fires but because like all great songwriters, Kyle Kersten manages to write in a way in which his words can  relate to many situations and with lyrics like “Can anybody tell me what’s right, up or down cause it all seems the same to me?” often the situations you think of happen to be sad ones.

A lot less Sparse than their previous album there are still elements of it here noteably on the tracks I Feel The Same and arguably on the opening track too but in all it’s a much punchier, rockier affair no doubt because of the addition of long time Southern California players Dan Moore (bass), John Phinney (pedal steel, banjo), Mike Cusick (drums), and Andrew Morrison (guitar) with influences from Gram Parsons, The Byrds, Crazy Horse or to make a more modern day comparison you could include the Likes of Richmond Fontaine or Dolorean. I also come away with a feeling that the the last two years playing live has really helped them hone their craft and kept them from rushing into making an average album. Some real thought has  gone into the making of this and you can tell, the production is superb, the songwriting is excellent and it’s all played to a massively high degree, winner all round if you ask me.

In fact, take a listen and come back and tell me of a better Alt-country release this year, I’ll be waiting.

I’ve also kindly been allowed to share with you the opening track but please, when this album is released, buy it. Not only will you be helping them fund this self-release but at the same time be buying one of this years best albums. Enjoy.

Travel by Sea – Eventually