BY THE SEA – ENDLESS DAYS CRYSTAL SKY

7/10

By-The-Sea---Crystal-Sky

Wirral 5 piece ‘By The Sea’ released their cult shimmering pop debut album of the same name in 2012.The gorgeous mix of melodic psychedelic pop has been my soundtrack of many of my days since then. Thankfully they have made a quick return with ‘Endless Days Crystal Sky’, Recorded at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios and produced again by Bill Ryder-Jones of the Coral, who is a great solo artist in his own right.

‘Endless Days’ kicks off the album, the song slowly builds then the guitars soar into fantastic widescreen size frenzy. Scouse singers are in my opinion the best sounding in music, and Liam power certainly sounds good with a slight echo added here. His voice is comparable with fellow Liverpudlians Ian McCulloch from Echo & the Bunnymen and Michael Head from the criminally underrated Shack,
What a great opener!

‘Your The Only One’ Is short and punchy with lots of melodic guitars which fades out with a laid back synth, while ‘Youth’ Starts with a nice plucking bass sound and swirling guitars and childlike synth melody. The pace steps up towards the end with some soothing vocals.

Lead single and album highlight ‘I See A Crystal Sky’,which has been available for a while, begins like a ‘Phil Spector‘ track with thumping drums and textured synthesiser, it is a radio friendly belter of a song.
Penultimate track ‘At Your window’ features haunting female vocals from local ‘Minnetonka’ alongside Liam Power, a first for the band. The electronic sound gives the track an epic widescreen flavour with some gorgeous changes in the song.

‘Wild September’ begins with a driving drumbeat and a mixture of atmospheric Eno-esque sounds which build up until the skyscraping guitar and synth finale! then eases back into the sounds from the beginning.
By The Sea have filled the void left by The Coral and more! ‘Endless Days Crystal Sky’ is definitely a step up from an immense debut, its bursting with dreamlike atmospherics widescreen melodies and jangle guitars, the musicianship and production is top drawer, My only complaint is.. it’s over too soon.


Listen to ‘I Can See A Crystal Sky’ Below:

 

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Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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