Swivel Chairs The Slow Transmission

[Transit Of Venus; 2007]

Styles: indie-pop, alt-country, folk rock
Others: Wilco, Audible, Low

After a decade-plus partnership between Jeremy Grites and Jason Brown, a songwriting duo that formed from the humble auspices of Southern New Jersey’s Rowan University, the world now has the band’s first label-backed release, The Slow Transmission. While this album is not immediately stunning, there are some worthwhile moments surely due to a culmination of many years of determined hard work.

Recorded in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, The Slow Transmission is a 45-minute mid-tempo rotation that modulates between compelling rock ditties and awesomely overdone guitar pop. The “hooks” that the band so proudly flaunt are satisfying, but nothing that hasn’t been heard before. In fact, even the stronger moments tend to be nondescript. Meanwhile, the lyrics are at best unmemorable and at worst pretty annoying, especially on “Just A Little Girl,” as the refrain repeats ad nauseam: “She’s just a little girl/ That came through the mail.”

I do have to give Swivel Chairs points for consistency, because The Slow Transmission flows beautifully, clearly an intention of the band. It’s a faux-pas of many to think that an album need be dynamic and sonically diverse to be worthwhile, and Swivel Chairs does an excellent job of proving this wrong. However, the most convincing moments on the record are the ones without the forced pedal steel and tiresome lyrics, the moments when Grites and Brown just let their natural voices and guitars do the talking.

Most Read



Etc.