Bring on Mixed Review cover Pictures of Then

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Pictures Of Then – And The Wicked Sea – Review
Posted by Staff on August 2, 2009 – 1:23 pm -

Release Date: August 4th, 2009
Record Label: None
Genre: Jangly 60s Indie Rock

And here we are, listening to yet another 60s pop influenced indie rock band, borrowing heavily from both The Beatles and Built to Spill. Pictures of Then, hailing from Minneapolis, MN pack out a twelve track album with jangly tunes that honestly leave much to be desired. The two cornerstones when writing songs are to be well written and to be memorable. Pictures of Then seem to be lacking on both fronts.

After skipping over the fairly boring intro track of “A Glimpse of Dawn”, you get to “When it Stings”, providing you a really familiar sound, pulling from Midwestern indie greats The Promise Ring. This is great news if you can get over singer Casey Call’s voice, which can at times be like pulling a cheese grater up your forearm. A couple of songs later is “Nowhere is Somewhere”, a track that actually shows what the band is doing right. When they put their minds to it, they can write a clean and catchy song. Only in the next song “One Day”, the band shows that they once again have no real sense of being an original band, with beats and grooves that sound like they were cut from Elton John’s “Rocketman”.

Unfortunately, this record seems to pander to the hipster suburbanite indie rock kids as opposed to having a sweeping, genre-less appeal to fans. The truth is that Pictures of Then will surely catch on and rock the 16-35 demographic of people who think that shopping at Hollister makes them awesome. This will band will be proof that they’re “not just radio kids”. There is no substance or memorable material on this album spare for “Nowhere is Somewhere”. After two rotations of the album, I felt like I was listening to James Taylor, Elton John, and Built to Spill all rolled into one band. There’s nothing wondrous about this record. If someone gives you a copy for free, check it out but don’t bother wasting money on it. ~Staff

Score: 1.5/5

Track Listing:
1. A Glimpse of Dawn (Intro)
2. When it Stings
3. The Big Sell
4. Nowhere is Somewhere
5. One Day
6. Stuck
7. Ahead
8. 7th Street
9. History of Bones
10. Questions Anyone?
11. Wicked Sea
12. Lands Uncharted