Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink (Music Review)
By Andrew Gable • Oct 15th, 2009 • Category: Indie Rock, ReviewsWheat
White Ink, Black Ink
Rebel Group
Rating: 2 out of 5
Described on their site as “sugar free melodic indie alt-country rock from Boston,” Wheat’s White Ink, Black Ink would more accurately be described as “tasting somewhat bland because of its lack of sugar.” On this record, they offer stripped-down, melodic indie rock reminiscent of the Killers doing more organic music, or even …and You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead on good sedatives.
The production is warm and somewhat bright throughout the album, not varying much between tracks. Good harmonies and inventive drums on the occasional track certainly help (check out “I Want Less”), fairly original lyrics also help, but the songs never quite make it out of the predictable parameters of the genre.
That being said, there are a few tracks that bear mention. “Two Mountains” is interesting. Off-beat drums in the background, almost too quiet, keep the track from hiding in the amber waves of grain of this album. On this track, singer Scott Levesque calls to mind Colin Oberst’s, of Bright Eyes, fame. The other track of note is “Baby in My Way.” Starting with building, plinking piano and ending with warm strings, the short 2:07 song fades in and out dramatically without becoming cliché.
White Ink, Black Ink pushes through its 11 tracks in slow indie rock style; all of its tracks seem destined for background music in a movie or television program. If you imagine all of your favorite alternative bands’ albums that had that one slow, oddly introspective song and put them all on one album, voila! you have White Ink Black Ink.
I don’t want to be overly negative, as obviously these guys are successful enough to have shows and release material and potentially make some money from their craft; this is more than I’ve ever done with music, so kudos to Wheat for that. It’s just my least favored ingredients of music all in one release.
Links:
Wheat on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wheatmusic
Wheat’s home page: http://www.wheatmusic.com/
The Rebel Group: http://www.therebelgroup.com/rebel_group/about.html
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Andrew Gable is a 30-something journalism student in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has played in a few local bands and is an avid collector of music. Outside of sharing his opinion with many people who don’t ask for it, he can be found drawing, skateboarding, and drinking copious amounts of coffee at local coffee establishments.
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