ALBUM REVIEW: Beside A Shallow Sun – Redwood

As winter approaches and lockdown looms over us once more, it’s apt enough a time as any to open up our minds to self-reflection. When we can’t see our loved ones, let’s look back at the moments and the mistakes that have mattered over the years, and made us who we are today. It’s an experience Hertfordshire’s REDWOOD ruminate over on their pick-and-mix kaleidoscopic pop-sensitive alt-rock debut Beside A Shallow Sun. 

There’s a sense of nostalgia niggling away in your eardrums as the hauntingly-choral feedback-driven instrumental Dark bleeds into Gemini; it’s jangly indie-rock riffs roll away with it’s pop-sensitive sing-alongs, harking back to the early-ten’s when BLITZ KIDS and MALLORY KNOX were making noise. It’s a sonic sentiment that slips into your consciousness throughout Beside A Shallow Sun; from An Extension Of Us’ melding of Glitter & Trauma-era BIFFY CLYRO with the emo-americana of Fools & Worthless Liars-era DEAF HAVANA to Lilac’s infusion of latter day LOWER THAN ATLANTIS pop-rock with compellingly complex math-rock structures. 

Taking a trip down memory lane before you’ve even made it out of the door with your debut is a risk not always worth gambling on, but it’s one REDWOOD relish in on Beside A Shallow Sun, and reap the rewards for doing so. Rather than retrace the steps taken by bands before them, their ability to bring pop sensibility to lo-fi math-rock structures once reserved for your local’s backroom elevates their music to a higher echelon of alt-rock appreciation. There’s a level of technicality that they bring to the fore throughout that they thrive on, most notably on Rumour Night, where lo-fi harmonies run like rivers under an explosion of glitteringly glistening post-rock rhythms and riffs, seeking solace in the sheer beauty of noise. 

As the old adage goes: what goes up must come down. If Beside A Shallow Sun had been a seven-track EP split off at the end of Rumour Night, REDWOOD would’ve had a masterpiece of an opening statement in their hands, however the album’s latter half gets lost somewhere between the slippery slope of self-indulgence and the safety of finding a formula that works. That’s not to say that the tracks are no less worthy, Blue Moment alone is one of the album’s best moments, but there’s that feeling you’ve felt this all before. It’s a trap that far too many bands fall into on their debuts as they find their feet, and is particularly applicable here when the pacing drops off the radar with Nightshade and Theme Park, throwing off the scent of something special for a second.

If nostalgia is where the music marks its territory, self-reflection and memories are where the thematics find their home on Beside A Shallow Sun. In Alex Birchall, REDWOOD have a songwriter approaching the precipice of poetic brilliance, but one who knows when to dial it back to deliver that caption-competition winner. Acting almost as a stream of consciousness for Birchall, Beside A Shallow Sun explores and evaluates the intricacies of the relationships we’ve formed in our lives and the experiences that illuminated them. Whilst deeply personal, there’s a sense of relativity running through the veins of this album, inviting the listener to look at themselves in the mirror – and more importantly, it reminds us there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, echoed early on as Birchall sings “I’m not lost, I’m just searching for something I want.”

Despite it’s niggling nostalgia and problematic pacing, REDWOOD presents Beside A Shallow Sun as frontrunner for the underdog’s debut of the year. 

Rating: 8/10

Beside A Shallow Sun is out now via self-release. 

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