I don't even really remember where at this point, but I came across the cover art for Barrow's 2011 debut full-length album, Being Without.The image really spoke to me. It appears to be a grainy, black-and-white photograph of a bird flying very close to a body of water. You can see its reflection and a path where the water was gently disturbed by its flight.
While trying to find the artist of the painting I discovered that it was actually an album cover. So, I decided to check out the band.
The album was pretty good. I wasn't blown away, but it definitely showed some potential. Some songs felt like they wanted to be something more, but ended up kind of pop punky. It's kind of like Brand New's Your Favorite Weapon. That's a really strong kind of. This album was kind of pop punk, but you could tell Brand New wanted to do other things. And so they did.
Then I noticed they had a new album coming out soon. Barrow only had two songs for previewing at the time, but I just went back to discover the entire album was streaming.
Titled Though I'm Alone and released last Tuesday, Barrow's sophomore album is a massive improvement over the already pretty great Being Without.
On Though I'm Alone, Barrow have really figured out how to pour out these smooth, atmospheric post-rock soundscapes creating a very emotional tone to these songs. That's not to say Being Without didn't have this, but Though I'm Alone does it so much better. It also seems like maybe some of the hardcore bits were sacrificed for this album, but it's a welcome sacrifice.
I really dig the shaky vocals on "Wither." They remind me of the vocals on Pianos Become the Teeth's "Hiding."
As a final thought, I'll conclude this blog with Barrow's Bandcamp description: Don't care about gettin' rich, don't care about stayin' poor. Playing music that we feel. Best friends.
Check it out for yourself. Below is a Bandcamp stream of the album. For whatever reason it starts off at track #2.
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