I am not too keen on the label "indie rock." I may be presumptuous in saying so (or, perhaps, deflecting?), but, I feel that many people have their own made-up version of what they think "indie rock" is, when it really could mean anything. And once a record with such a label is actually heard, 90% of the time, it doesn't sound anything like that imaginary construction (everyone sounds like Modest Mouse or Dinosaur Jr. in my mind until I actually hear them). This makes reviewing a record like this kind of hard because, I guarantee you, this record doesn't sound like what you think it does, so just go fucking listen to it and enter Donnie Law's world of "Echoes." In the meantime, I will do my best to give it the justice it deserves.
Opener "Been Right Here" starts simple with the rich sound of a clean guitar, dripping with delay, and a doubled vocal melody which combine to create the cold and brooding climate where this EP lives. Donnie's affinity for simple and memorable choruses begins here: "the more I wait, the more I know you've been right here." After each chorus, beautiful swaying melodic interludes take place where echoed backup vocal lines and pronounced xylophone runs make an otherwise simple arrangement into something special and unique.
The title track starts with a bossa nova type beat that sounds like it came from a 1980s Casio keyboard preset. The song is more centered on a major key with its two-chord verse structure and boasts a dampened and echoed atmosphere, painting a sonic picture of shorelines and clear skies despite the "cities full of ashes built up by my door." (Snow? What the Fuck are you talking about, Donnie?) But the song isn't necessarily cheerful; there is a heaviness about it which is underlined by the wonderful and eerie production. The keyboard melodies and stereo-panned shakers help develop sonic texture. Once the song takes us where it needs to, each instrument drops in rapid succession until we are left with only those bossa nova drums and a synth. Shout out for a verse where the guitar mirrors the melody of the vocal line in place of lyrics, a trick I like to call "the Nirvana verse."
The final track, "Please Don't Break My Heart" is quiet and stripped-down in sound with those poignant double-layered vocals and a closely-mic'd acoustic guitar before bursting into a heavily layered melodic bridge and then suddenly dipping back into its restrained and even-keeled verse. The melody is well-rounded and the lyrics are memorable. The dynamics of this song make this a standout track on this release.
Just in time for winter, Donnie Law's frigid and curious EP "Echoes" will be out November 13th via Sniffling Indie Kids. Make your ears happy by listening to it with headphones, as the production on this record is as much of an instrument as the guitars and vocals. For fans of "From a Basement on the Hill" era Elliott Smith, Surfer Blood on downers, Sean Lennon, "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" era Bright Eyes.
- Eddie Templeton, BMN Contributor