Sian Alice Group MP3 Review

I've been hearing this band's name floating around for what seems like forever, mostly because of my familiarity with their Social Registry labelmates Gang Gang Dance (at Beyond Race Magazine, I somehow overnight become the designated "GGD person"), but not until now, when I finally got around to listening to them, did it occur to me that they're actually British, which...cool. Their album 59.59 is just out, and they'll be in New York for two nights in September (13th and 14th).

So. The "heaven" referred to in "Way Down to Heaven" is more like "heaven" as described by a death-metal band. The bassline is hyper-insistent and sneaks up on you, starting out slow and friendly like an al fresco lunch date, coupled by high repeated repeated harmonic choruses that recall the more hippy-spooky side of Fleetwood Mac. All of this is later ambushed by some feedback-heavy lead guitar laced over and under the vocals, which somehow gives way to a sound that psychedelic-ish, but not quite. It's too controlled to give the sense of out-and-out primitive chaos you get from Gang Gang Dance. So basically, it's GGD more suitable for the dentist's office, but...if you're dentist don't, you know, actually play it in your office.


mp3 - Way Down To Heaven - Sian Alice Group