Seeing Blind Pull Red in Varying Sonic Directions
Album Review
Seeing Blind – Greatly Entertained
By Greg Lehman
Having seen Seeing Blind a few times over the years, I was surprised at how well they captured their live sound on Greatly Entertained. Although the album, their second full release, is far from their studio masterpiece, it lives up to the title and is quite “entertaining.”
The lead off track, “Boiling Down the World,” is a triumphantly perfect blend of all things SB, the heavy prog-rock rhythm section, bluesy E-street band brass, and classical sounding electric cello. Melissa Levi’s powerful voice varies between sometimes edgy-mellow dramatic like PJ Harvey to a soft and introspective Dave Matthews on “Crash”.
The main problem I have with this album is it pulls me sonically in different directions, without a lot of cohesiveness, leaving some songs a little disjointed. I’m a big fan of layering instruments as long as they work well together, otherwise it sounds forced and unsettled, and the listener is emotionally switched-off.
That said, when the band’s varying genres and musical intricacies work well together they really work, and the songs become more than the sum of their parts. “All That Was” interweaves bobbing rhhms, romantic cello, Levi’s elevated, heartfelt voice and beautifully cocky lyrics “you told me there’s nothing out there for me well I noticed you still looking” to fantastic results.
Other highlights from this sophomore effort, notable produced by Jonathan Plumb (Brandi Carlisle, Blind Melon), include the Incubus sounding “Kathy’s Pain”, the Beatles Blackbird-esque “Your America” and Memphis-Creole “Going Back.”
A solid local effort. – (7/10)
Seeing Blind play an acoustic set at the Laughing Ladies Cafe on October 24. The full band next plays Seattle at ToST on November 14.