ALBUM REVIEW: The Seafloor Cinema – The Seafloor Cinema
A self-titled album is always meant to be a statement. For THE SEAFLOOR CINEMA, their self-titled album encompasses everything they are as a band. The trio from Sacramento, California are known for their blend of pop, math-rock, EDM and emo, and while their 2021 album In Cinemascope With Stereophonic Sound saw them leaning more into their pop sound, this time it’s different as the band seem intent on finding out just how far they can go with each of their sounds.
Mercury In Gatorade is a perfect opener. Energetic, fun and full of a bit of everything, this song perfectly encapsulates the band. There are pop choruses, rocking guitar riffs and even some screamed vocals thrown in. Whilst it does end slightly abruptly, it is a brilliant song that will get people up and dancing. Straight after that, ONLYFRIEND brings a new perspective to second track If This Were A Film as his verse fits really well within the song.
The album’s pacing is helped by most of the songs having a different sound. Whether it’s Geese Attack!!!!‘s pop-punk summer vibes, the electronic-pop of Crop Top Sorority, or the rock of Oakland’s Finest Glass Beaches, each song is contained within its own little world. In fact, this album is just THE SEAFLOOR CINEMA‘s universe, and each song is an individual planet, and even as some of the songs do start to sound a bit similar later on, the fact that they are broken up really helps the pacing.
Saying that, the band don’t always hit all the right notes. The name might be fantastic, but Dolly Parton Vs The Government is a slightly lacklustre paint-by-numbers pop-punk track. It’s enjoyable on its own, but in the context of the album it gets a little lost. This is the case for a few songs scattered throughout the record, like Take Drugs! Kill A Bear! whose gang vocals become a bit distracting as the song goes on, or The Sun In Reverse, which just falls a touch flat when it comes to the rock genre.
On the other hand, there is the brilliant Deeth Starr Valley, which is a wonderful blend of rock and hardcore. When the album plays with different genres, it does so very well, although if anything the band could go for even more as sometimes they do hit a few dead ends because there is only so much experimentation to be done with the genres that are in their melting pot before it becomes a bit repetitive.
Overall, despite some flaws, The Seafloor Cinema is worthy of its status as a self-titled album. Whilst some of the songs do get a bit overshadowed by the better ones, when it’s good it’s brilliant. It is well-paced, and – despite it being 12 songs – it flies by quite fast thanks to the songs having shorter runtimes. Although it isn’t perfect, this is the work of a band who clearly love what they are doing, and that passion is impossible to deny.
Rating: 7/10
The Seafloor Cinema is set for release on December 1st via Pure Noise Records.
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