The first thing we noticed when City-State‘s first full-length, Monument, arrived is that it looked very professional. Often with local bands the CDs look (and usually are) homemade. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just something that stuck out as a good sign. The CD cover has a picture of Vladimir Tatlin’s unbuilt sculpture “Monument to the Third International,” one of those things that pops up in architecture books from time to time, superimposed over the Washington Monument in a night photo of D.C.
But as for the music, it’s generally moody, mellow, and midtempo. The sound is fairly complex, with echoing guitars spinning around choppy drumming and bass. The songs don’t really have choruses or verses, they build intensity and are focused on mood rather than theme. The first track, “Great Lakes,” has quiet sections reminiscent of Portishead’s jazzy sadness and louder sections that sound more like Talk Talk. “Mary” is more energetic and Joao Malhinha’s drumming sounds like Larry Mullen, Jr. on an early 80s U2 album. The instrumental fifth track, “Monument to the Third International,” also sounds like old U2 with ringing guitars and harmonics with dense background atmosphere. Track six, “Arlanda Terminal,” is probably the most straightforward indie rock song on the album and also the song where the band sounds most like Interpol, who they’re compared to frequently. Tracks 8 and 9 are remixes of songs on the band’s prevous EP, “Wolves + 4” and the more electronic and ambient sound fits Jim Anderson’s vocals well.
The main knock against the album is that Anderson’s voice varies little from each song to the next, giving the album a bit of a repetitive quality. That may be more of a personal preference, as his affected tone is reminscent of Paul Banks from Interpol and I am not an Interpol fan. But if you like that style of singing, I think you’ll enjoy Armstrong’s vocals. The best moments on the album are when the instruments build into a dense and complex whole, like “Monument” and parts of other tracks.
City-State has definitely defined a sound for themselves — and we bet it translates well on stage. You can find out for yourselves tonight at the Black Cat backstage for the band’s CD release party, along with openers A Study in Her. Monument officially comes out the 15th of this month on Liberty Fuse records.
