Based in Bristol, England, Sarah has a reputation for bringing out unthreatening guitar pop, perhaps best represented by the Field Mice or Another Sunny Day. The label's offerings typically have been uncluttered, jangly, somewhat meloncholic - and to some people, annoyingly wimpy and soft. Pure pop that won't exactly scare your parents.
In the past year Sarah has expanded their catalogue with records from a number of promising bands. Albums from Heavenly, East River Pipe, and the Sugargliders are particularly solid, and a singles compilation of Sarah bands, Gaol Ferry Bridge, offers an overview of the label's roster.
Heavenly's excellent "Atta Girl" single is on Gaol Ferry Bridge. Heavenly sound quite similar to Washington, D.C.'s Velocity Girl (Sub-Pop), and comparisons to recent British hopefuls Sleeper would not be completely unwarranted. Like Velocity Girl's early single "Forgotten Favorite", "Atta Girl" opens with a lonely guitar strumming before the whole band jumps in. The lyrics lament possesiveness and jealosy in a relationship, and the chorus is a strong rebuttal: "I'm not yours, and never will be now. You've shown me how you are - you're jealous - and how far you've tried to smother."
On their eight-song album, The decline and fall of heavenly, another side of the band is added to the display. Here Heavenly reveal a whimsical streak, showing an affinity for camp, sing-songy elements. Heavenly may share some of the fascinations with 60s European easy-listening music that infuses Saint Etienne with a similarly whimsical charm. Heavenly rely entirely on guitar-based songs, however, and the occasional xylaphone never leads to the dance elements or electronics used by Saint Etienne.
On Poor Fricky, East River Pipe conforms to the mold of Sarah bands: quiet, simple, almost wimpy. It sounds like a one-man band, extremely sparse songs built around meandering guitar lines with occasional synths added to some of the jangly laments. The vocalist sounds like a weary, indie- Tom Petty. His nasal delivery also hints at Yo La Tengo or the Feelies. In fact, East River Pipe could almost pass for Yo La Tengo unplugged, like on their collection of covers, Fakebook.
Lyrics on East River Pipe's Poor Fricky cover the meloncholic gamut, with the most striking aspect found in the descriptions of deeply personal emotions couched in weird technological references. "Metal detector," for instance, discusses trust; the earnest plea is for a friend to "put away the metal detector, baby." Another song is a serenade - to a dictaphone. East River Pipe contribute three non-album songs to the Gaol Ferry Bridge compilation. The formula is the same: there's one tune entreating "put the helmet on."
Melbourne's Sugargliders have released an extremely interesting self- titled compilation, modestly subtitled "a flawed but beautiful collection," bringing together 12 singles released from early 1992 to late 1993. Naturally enough, the three singles on Gaol Ferry Bridge are also found on their self- titled album.
The impressive first song, "Letter From A Lifeboat," combines a lazy programmed drum beat with poppy guitars and softly delivered male vocals. Another standout is "Ahprahran", which can also be heard on the Sarah sampler. The lead guitar bleats a soft staccato line as an interesting bass bubbles along with drums; the vocal line fits in so well that this slow pop song almost sounds danceable. Likewise "Trumpet Play" where a fluid bass line carries the sparse tune along while guitars make occasional appearances that have the effect of samples.
The Sugargliders use glittery, clear guitar tones and short pop structures. But somehow they end up bursting out of the genre - on some songs because of hypnotic drums, on others because the gentle strumming somehow creates illusory pulses of rhythmic excitement. Using traditional rock instruments and structures while exploring unusual territory is admirable; a tiny-sounding indie band whose songs for some reason have an atmosphere reminiscent of both the Church and Portishead is special.
The Sarah sampler Gaol Ferry Bridge offers tracks from each of these three bands alongside five others. The Heavenly single and b-side are among the band's best songs, as are the Sugargliders songs that appear on the compilation. Most of the other bands are less interesting than Heavenly, East River Pipe, and Sugargliders. Action Painting! and Boyracer seem particularly unsuccessful experiments: hard-core and wimpy pop just don't fit together. They don't sound aggressive enough to pull off blustery, punky streaks and the loud, fast patches don't effectively enhance the other side of these bands. Still, Boyracer's "cog" is catchy, primarily because its chugging guitars and slight syncopation closely resemble the music from the old Batman TV series.
Of the other bands on Gaol Ferry Bridge, Secret Shine make an unnecessary foray into territory already well-explored by Slowdive and Blind Mr. Jones. And Blueboy is altogether too, uh, blue - whining about going far away on Air France while disposing with percussion.
The notable exception to this mediocrity is Even As We Speak. Their jazzy "(all you find is) air" uses sax, xylaphone, and a Soul II Soul beat to back up breathy female vocals. Their other song is all guitars and speed with the effect of vintage Go-Go's or the Primitives.
A majority of the 16 tracks are quite good, and even the disposable songs are not unlistenable, just unspectacular. Still, the appeal of even the best songs is limited by the general congeniality of Sarah bands. People who tend to prefer Velocity Girl to the rest of the Sub-Pop catalogue, for instance, would do well to check out the Gaol Ferry Bridge sampler. Fans of other low-key acts like the Feelies, Galaxy 500, Swell, even Morrissey, might find things here to like. Likewise fans of New Zealand pop bands such as the Chills or the Straightjacket Fits. But if you preferred R.E.M.'s Monster to Automatic for the People you may be disappointed by even the most impassioned band on Gaol Ferry Bridge.
