London's Dry The River takes the soaring folk bliss of bands like, fellow Brits, Mumford & Sons to its next logical step on their excellent debut album. The roaring harmonies, led by front man Peter Liddle, on opening "Animal Skins" recalls Seattle's Fleet Foxes, but the grumbling bass and occasionally cranky guitar riff gives the band an edgier counterpoint to the graceful vocals. The haunting blend of flickering guitars and bellowing horns of "Shield Your Eyes", Liddle's quivering vocal over a humming church organ on elegant choral ballad "Demons", and lightly picked acoustic and oozing harmonies of "Shaker Hymns" reveal a tenderness to the band's sound. The thick bass groove and heavy beat of "The Chambers & The Valves" and shaggy riffs roughing up the achy falsetto vocals of "Weights & Measures" show off their willingness to add a little oomph to the folk formula. Like all great folk, it is all driven by the quality of the songwriting at the core, with heartbreaking "Bible Belt", about a child coping with alcoholic parents, ripe for an episode of Showtime's Shameless. Mark this band down as one not to miss at Lollapalooza in August.
Seek - "No Rest", "Animal Skins", "New Ceremony"
For fans of - Mumford & Sons
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