Standing In The Sun - Standing In The Sun

  by John Clarkson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Whole Track Entertainment
Format: CD

intro

If one was looking for a likeness, one might perhaps compare ‘Standing in the Sun’ to ‘Cream’ with their rich, powerhouse sound, or ‘U2’ who they have supported and also been an influence on with thei

If one was looking for a likeness, one might perhaps compare ‘Standing in the Sun’ to ‘Cream’ with their rich, powerhouse sound, or ‘U2’ who they have supported and also been an influence on with their passion, or maybe the Neil Young of ‘Weld’ and ‘Live Rust’ with their raw, grinding energy. Standing in the Sun are also fleetingly reminiscent of many other acts (‘Garbage’, ‘Pink Floyd’, ‘My Bloody Valentine’, ‘Sonic Youth’ and Jimi Hendrix are just a few of the names that spring to mind) but their sound is, however, very much their own, and impossible to pinpoint to any particular category, they are a distinctive and fresh force in alternative rock. Their eponymous debut album is a curious, but powerful hybrid of techno sounds, wall of noise distortions, moody atmospherics and gutteral guitar pyrotechnics, and is a record both of unique voice and uncompromising dynamism. The band are a Los Angeles based trio, consisting of guitarist and vocalist, Ric Alien ; drummer Les Moore and bassist Rex Perry, and ‘Standing in the Sun’ is released on the act’s own ‘Whole Track Entertainment Label’. The opening track ‘Love I Make’ begins with a slow, swirling buzz of synthesisers, before Moore’s heavyweight drums , the band’s resonating, layered guitars and finally Alien’s crystal, empathic vocals , all trademarks of the group, kick in. The thoughtful, reflective lyrics take a new slant on a old theme and question how much we really know about what love is. The next track, the seven minute title song, is both anthemic and epic . A mesh of startling contrasts, it bounces blistering guitarwork and pounding drums against a fuzz of feedback, and uses juxtaposing couplets (‘Everything you hoped for/everything you got/ Everything you lived for/everything you’re not’) to expose the differences between our desires and the reality. Ultimately positive and hopeful in tone, however, and in what proves to be the main and recurring lyrical theme of the album, it is also an empassioned cry for us to have faith in ourselves whatever the odds. Alien’s howled final chorus ( ‘All the world’s unspoken/all the left undones/All of us together/standing in the sun’) is a pressing and urgent plea for us to at least attempt to try to fulfill our dreams. ‘See It Somehow’ and ‘Solve It’ are softer and slightly slower in tone, and expand in their lyrics on this idea further. The angry ‘Magazine’ meanwhile is a blasted and caustic swipe at the media, which blends its piled-up guitars and punkish, waspish edginess together with a sense of the absurd and the ridiculous. (I’m made to desire, believe the print./ I’m already behind the times). On ‘Doubt’, the closest the band gets to a ballad, Alien’s voice drops down to a compassionate and near seductive croon, as he tries it seems to bolster his own and others’ flagging spirits against a wash of synthesisers and guitars. The faintly menacing and sinister sounding ‘RiverWIDE’ meanwhile pushes Moore’s steady, sledgehammer drumbeats to the fore of the mix and, in similar spirit to the title track, slams these drums and Alien and Perry’s guitarwork up against a barrage of white noise. The final song ‘Falling from Me’, about personal responsibility for one’s own actions, is a fraught, all out rocker that brings the album to an appropriately dramatic and dynamic close. In a tight and relatively short running time of thirty five minutes, ‘Standing in the Sun’ with each one of its eight songs throws up a quickfire and successive volley of fresh energy, thoughts and ideas. Enthusiastic and passionate, reflective and unorthodox, boldly and wildly experimental, it is an original record that pushes alternative rock music into new boundaries and extremes, and, undoubtedly one of the best recordsof the year. It will also prove to be one of the most influential.

Track Listing:-