The Reed Sea “No Help”

The Reed Sea is a four-piece from Portland, OR, and that's pretty much all I know about 'em. One of the band members shot me an email a week or two ago and asked me to check out their free EP, "No Help", and I immediately knew that this was something I could appreciate. They play what I would lazily describe as stripped down and restrained emo/indie rock, but there's really more to it than that because there's also this unique sort of dark, "post-punk" sound that's to some degree reminiscent of assorted UK bands from various points over the last three decades. The vocals definitely have that soft, somber, monotone approach goin' on, while the music relies almost exclusively on jangly clean guitars over pulsing bass and relatively straightforward percussion. They transition into a mild surge of light distortion once or twice throughout the entire 17-minute listen, generally opting for lots of slow, winding arpeggios. In theory it sort of seems like it's the kind of thing that might get old fast, and I'll admit that typically bands of this nature hit me as far too one-sided. I generally miss the dynamics and clamor for a distorted edge to act as a counterbalance. But that's not the case here at all. Whatever they're doing, consciously or otherwise, they've completely nailed it. The atmosphere really works—it doesn't feel overly plain, and nothing seems missing. I'm already looking forward to hearing more...

The Reed Sea "Other"

As mentioned above, the whole EP is available as a free download, so there's really no excuse not to check it out in full:

[DOWNLOAD] The Reed Sea "No Help" (@ The Reed Sea)