Plancton
Paper Crown King is Seafood's fifth studio album and begins with 'I Will Talk', which on first impressions threatens to be a rather miserable track; a dark minor chord song with soulful vocals. Thankfully it has a good and loud break that lifts it from the potential sea of misery and serves to prick the ears up. All of a sudden I'm impressed and thinking that Seafood might just be one of those great bands that have somehow managed to avoid me for their last four albums!
What's good about Seafood (and it's not the band name!) is that they are quite hard to categorise. The overall feel is indie, 'Signal Sparks' certainly falls into that category but they also inject a good chunk of rock at times. It's not that it's loud but it has an undercurrent of menace and darkness, this is never allowed to take dominance however. 'Between the Noise Pt2' is a prime example, the verse is dark and brooding but is countered by an uplifting major chord chorus.
When they slow things down though, they do verge on the generic at times, 'Time & Tides' for example lacks the dynamics for the first three minutes but then it's saved at the end as it builds to a final minute long crescendo. Seafood just seem to have the knack of knowing exactly when to make a song take off; on numerous occasions I find myself starting to dislike a song, only for it to be pulled out of the fire by a great chord change or a sudden injection of pace or melody.
There is plenty of variety on offer here in terms of style, 'Awkward Ghost' is a lilting acoustic ballad that in the context of the album contrasts nicely with the more upbeat songs but at the same time it starts to ring the warning bells. I really can't decide whether I like this album or hate it, there are some great moments certainly but there are others where they just slot comfortably into that pained alternative indie category. 'Disappear' momentarily clinches it for me, the main stumbling block being David Line's vocals, they get a little whiney and you can just picture him grabbing the mic and closing his eyes with a pained expression on his face. I may be doing the guy a disservice but there's just something intrinsically annoying about it. Then of course, just to foil me, they come out with a faster and far more interesting track in 'Little Pieces' that features some much needed guitar parts and more urgent vocals.
Title track 'Paper Crown King' features some generic lyrics and standard chord progressions and tips me in the other direction again and I'm left with final track 'How You Gonna Live Without Me?' to cast the final vote. This just throws the whole perception out of the window as it features drummer Caroline Banks on vocals along with saxophone accompaniment and creates yet another string to Seafood's bow. It's a welcome shift in styles that works well and leaves me wondering why they didn't use her on some of the other tracks.
Ultimately Seafood are a good band that have some good arrangements and dynamics and taken objectively there is a lot to like about this album but there's a fair bit to dislike too. I can't decide, over to you!