Saint Rich
Beyond the Drone
???
Rock
With its steady guitar melodies and easy-breezy vibe, Saint Rich’s Beyond the Drone has all the qualities of a solid indie rock record. But that’s just the problem — there’s nothing special to distinguish its sound from any other band heard in the background of an Urban Outfitters.
Seasoned multi-instrumentalists Steve Marion and Christian Peslak provide their debut album as Saint Rich with a foundation built on years of making music together. Yet this familiarity between the artists isn’t enough to make a prominent impact. The entire album is comprised of twangy and upbeat songs, all of which begin to blur together. While each song is adequate on its own, together they become a monotonous blend of Peslak’s sleepy vocals and weathered rhythms.
Though upon closer listen, there are some redeeming tracks. “You Ain’t Worth the Night” and “Don’t Bring Me Down” hit all the targets — soulful melodies accompanied by charming, homespun lyrics — that the rest of the songs seem to miss.
Questionably, Beyond the Drone is broken up by contrasting heavy piano and unpleasant mechanical sounds every few tracks. These interludes between songs seem out of place and unnecessary and do nothing for an otherwise decent record.
The album has a “Where have I heard this before?” quality that’s more unsatisfying than enjoyable. Unremarkable, but definitely not unbearable, Beyond the Drone makes for an easy listen and not much else.
— Natalie Carney
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