by Rinjo Njori

In an indie rock scene that is slowly being hijacked by the likes of Devendra Banhart's hoboism, Joanna Newsom's harp, Sufjan Steven's butterfly wings, and the Mountain Goats' revisionist take on the Violent Femmes, there is nothing more exciting then knowing a band like Seattle's Siberian merely exists. Siberian, consciously or unconsciously, is keeping the "rock" in indie rock alive. Pitchfork purists may say that Siberian's "Radiohead meets Muse meets Sunny Day Real Estate (with a hint of U2)" brand of rock is "alternative" rock, not indie rock. Ten short years ago alternative rock was also known as "indie rock" because these kinds of bands were on indie Labels or no labels at all. Now, the term is being forcibly morphed into a genre taken over by major label imprints.

The opening instrumental "Drive Safely" almost screams Sunny Day Real Estate, but it's a great jumping off point before they put together a perfect blend of Pablo Honey-era Radiohead and Absolution-era Muse. Nate Mendel's, Sunny Day Real Estate, influence is front and center in Zach Tillman's bass line. For once it's nice to here this hypnotic bass outside the traditional emo paradigm. "Any Day Now" similarly conveys the Sunny Day Real Estate comparisons. The chorus though gives the overall song a completely different feel. Which almost makes it work. "Paper Birds" is a perfect example of fusing the two biggest influences on Siberian. The rising intro and tight rhythm guitar recall Radiohead in their infancy. Finn Parnell harmonizes just like Matthew Bellamy and has perfected Thom Yorke's vocal inflections (warble here, borderline monotone there). That hint of U2 shows itself on "Talk to the Moon", if only for a second and highlights Parnell's and Colin Walbrug's excellent guitar work. "Georg Bendeeman" which closes out the album appears to be Finn Parnell and his acoustic guitar. The feed back that accompanies the guitar comes off too much like a prop, but you can't help feeling that without this "sound" the song is only half as good. Overall, Siberian needs a little more muscle, there songs are a little too deliberate in places. Hopefully, this will come with a little more experience.

This year we have seen Muse release a "ridiculously" perfect album Black Holes and Revelations (robbed of the Mercury award), Radiohead sprang back to prominence (Thom Yorke got the solo thing out of his system) and the Pitchfork Media faithful show no signs of ceasing their campaign to emasculate indie rock (though there positive review of Mastodon's Blood Mountain is a step in the right direction.) Why should Siberian matter? This self produced and self released album is very good and just short of really, really good. The fact that they put this together presumably by themselves provides a glimmer of hope for a return of "real" indie rock.