WINTERSLEEP - New Inheritors

It's undeniably a bit odd to find ourselves discussing a Canadian band with such a faint personality: in this respect, Wintersleep, from Halifax, are a genuinely rare case. Little consolation comes from an album, their fourth, that confirms and amplifies their struggle to find even a vaguely distinctive path, some kind of identifiable stamp.

Add to this the fact that, while the previous "Welcome To The Night Sky" was an enjoyable bounce through its influences, "New Inheritors" marks a step backward not only in terms of songwriting, but also in terms of atmosphere, here flattened into the meagre haul of a mildly energized rock sound.

Few songs are worth mentioning, and rather than dwell on the negatives it's best to start with the slightly more successful ones, like "Echolocation", a suspended evocation in which a faded memory is revived by vigorous guitar surges. It's worth noting that, in the absence of any recognizable ideas, the more lightweight moments actually fare much better, like the power-pop of "Terrible Man" and of the title track.

What proves rather unconvincing is especially the frontman's icy, à-la Paul Banks delivery, Paul Murphy ("Encyclopaedia", "Black Camera"), which only succeeds in stiffening tracks that are sometimes already weighed down by string arrangements that frankly feel superfluous, amid the banality of certain songs ("Experience The Jewel", "Mausoleum").

Where lightening the load might have done it some good, "New Inheritors" instead comes across as heavy-handed and needlessly overwrought, especially in the first half (just listen to the labored attempts of "Trace Decay") – even when the tracks are short, it's hard to take the Canadian band seriously. In the long line of "new inheritors", Wintersleep sadly end up among the last of the hangers-on.

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28/06/2010