The self-titled debut from Bloomington, India's Morrow paints a desolate, melancholy image filtered through their own brand of singer-songwriter/folk-tinged post-hardcore รก la Junction and Lungfish. "We're growing old, changing our ways, finding places we'd like to stay but there's no place left for us now" sings Jarod Isenbarger as discordant guitar jabs and pounding drums back him on "Who Will Be The King Over All The Dead". The folk songwriting is obscured by the Thurston Moore-esque guitar tone and the songs' crescendos replace orchestral flourishes with distortion and rage.
The majority of these 12 tracks dabble in a mid-tempo, depressing, and seemingly tiresome route, whereas the anomalies pick up pace and focus more on the previously mentioned post-hardcore qualities, seasoned by chiming guitar phrases that seem reminiscent of Grooms' Rejoicer, particularly on the track "White Elephant". These more energetic moments are very few and far between, which is the only deterrence that comes of this-- but their seldom occurrences only add to their impact and uniqueness.
In creating a blend of two aesthetics that seem like polar opposites, Morrow have created an original sound that can attend to both sides of the spectrum with their debut album. The mournful atmosphere may seem pervasive for its 40-minute length, but if taken in small doses, Morrow have made the accomplishment very few recent bands fail to grasp: originality. Without wearing any particular influences on their sleeves, Morrow's sound is something that I can only see expanded upon in the future.
[Morrow Myspace]
[Buy Morrow from Excursions Into The Abyss]
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