There’re many things to be grateful for the fall of the Iron Curtain for, but unleashing the mighty Polish scene to the wider world is one of them. Vader, Decapitated and Behemoth should spring to the mind of any sensible fan, but it looks as though Searching For Calm are an equally promising for post-hardcore fan. And best of all, rather than being selfish copyists, they’ve come up with a skinny take on the genre that blends together a number of influences without learning too heavily on any particular one.
The first thing that strikes you when ‘Screens’ folds and unfolds is that the free-willing will o’ wisp style is accomplished: a blend of Refused polemic and the agile prods of Fugazi are the most obvious reference, but in truth Searching For Calm have carved out a distinct identity for themselves. One that doesn’t see their vocals being too annoying – in fact, they’re less annoying than Cedric Bixler’s, and I like At The Drive-In/Mars Volta – even on ‘The Fall’ and ‘Follow’. Although this record does sometimes reach for the low hanging fruit, and surprises you on ‘The Eyes’ by sounding like the kind of stuff Kings of Leon now knock-off in their sleep because they’re too busy awake counting the money.
But aside from that slight veering into MOR territory, this proves to be altogether a surprising beast, in a non-threatening progressive way. In comparison to others of its ilk, it’s rather gentle, and while it may veer and swerve, it does so in a manner that won’t totally spill your tea. Perhaps a bit too gentle on ‘Transformation’, which doesn’t quite soar as high as you’d like, but it fits well into the overall running order, as ‘The Eyes’ is even more delicate, but sounds like some of Mogwai’s more benign moments on ‘Ten Rapid’, but doubly so on ‘Celestial’, which could even give the calmer moments of Cult of Luna a run for their money.
Moving into the last third, ‘Splendid View’ has the jittery edge of a Sonic Youth tune caught on the hop by At The Drive-In. Ditto ‘Sorcerer’, which has the same unhurried vibe the no-wave legends had on their ‘Sister’ album. Overall, while not exactly setting the world on fire (the aforementioned Kings of Leon-esque tracks are so MOR on repeated listening you can sense the road marking painted on them), there’s still plenty of interesting, if not especially intoxicating tunes here, even if they lack the skinny inventiveness of Fugazi.
http://www.myspace.com/searchingforcalm
