"Can we turn daydreams into a reality...?" asks "Waiting," the third track off Over It's Silverstrand. The band's sophomore release on Santa Barbara label Lobster Records, this highly anticipated album is proof that inborn talent mixed with unbeatable ambition can be the recipe for one of music's most celebrated artists today.
Starting out in Alexandria, Virginia, Over It has shown to be one of the hardest-working groups in today's scene. Starting out with nothing but a dream and the means with which to achieve it, the band joined up with respectable record company Lobster after a pair of releases on Negative Progression Records. Relocating from Virginia to the more scene-savvy Orange County, California, the band has spent more than half a decade developing a furiously brilliant sound that first made its mainstream debut on 2003's Timing Is Everything.
This album was my introduction to the band--I purchased it when I saw them open for Slick Shoes at Anaheim's Chain Reaction several years ago. Blown away by their amazing live capabilities and impressed by the massive amount of energy the band was capable of putting into their music, I was excited to see what else would come from this band.
Rigorous touring and promotion has helped get the respect this band has received and deserved so far. In an interview I did with them back in 2003, guitarist Nick Bailey said to me,
"We live life with a no-expectations policy. We definitely didn't see ourselves anywhere other than our basements, really."
All the same, the band has worked hard to mold its sound and style into the best shape it could be in. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this has occured in Silverstrand. This album is not so much a new direction for Over It as much as it is a radically more mature evolution. From the very first few seconds of the "Into" track, the band's sound is heavy-laden with the professionalism and seamless power that the band has worked hard to find.
The band's guitarwork has always been pro. In this album, the energy has been cranked up even higher. Seth's powerhouse vocals have shown a lot of improvement since Timing, and the basslines boom behind his words. The group's stripped-down punk sound has been saturated with a more intellectual technique given to many songs, such as "Never Get Enough." The whole album shows a band that has taken songwriting talent and improved it even more with acquired knowledge.
This album is not much unlike their first Lobster release in most ways. What can be said for it is that the band has grown up significantly since that album. The band's lyrics have always been refreshingly honest and intelligent for a rock-out power chord band, and this has been improved on even further.
Over It is a band that is aggressive, but not angry. The tracks are both reflective and hopeful. The album has truly improved on everything else we've heard from Over It, and it is a no-doubt-about-it recommendation for anyone who was ever into the Timing Is Everwhere-era Over It. And if you've yet to experience the band, Silverstrand is as good a time as anything to learn to appreciate one of the most deserving groups active in today's scene.
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R.S. '05 |
