Suburban Eyes- Suburban Eyes (Album Review)

Suburban Eyes may be a new name, but with members who spent time in bands like Mineral, Christie Front Drive, The Gloria Record, and Boys Life they’ve brought their decades of experience with them.  Where their previous projects tended to lean towards emo and are often regarded as some of the hallmarks of that style, the trio hasn’t merely repeated themselves with this new band and has instead decided to explore a wide range of textures that are a bit closer to alternative rock.  On their self-titled debut, Suburban Eyes moves between driving, up-tempo hooks, softer, reflective melodies, and even a little bit of shoegaze reverb.  The results are nostalgic sounding but the way that the group brings everything together feels fresh, and it’s exciting to hear how fully formed the ideas on this album are.

There are some traces of the emo roots the members all share, especially on some of the more reflective and softer tones showcased on songs like “4AM” and “Floyd”, but where their previous projects went for a sparser approach Suburban Eyes is focused on big soundscapes and layered melodies.  Opener “SoCal (Psycho)” is a great example, as it moves along at a brisk pace with booming drums and guitars that soar over the recording with a warm and inviting tone.  Rather than some of the influences I was expecting this material to sound like, I was often reminded of R.E.M. and Placebo as the tempos and bigger hooks play out in similar ways.  But despite the more direct and sometimes poppy nature of the guitar leads and synth work, there’s quite a bit of variety to what Suburban Eyes has written and there are neat little touches that make many of the songs pop.  Sometimes that comes in the form of a quick hip-hop beat that leads into a jangly melody (“Never Ending”) or a song that moves from a driving rhythm to a much slower and somber passage in a completely unexpected and seamless way (“Floyd”).  Closing track “Perfect Hands” also leans a bit into shoegaze and 90s Britpop with hazy, reverb-laden melodies that also bring in just the right amount of noise.  There’s a lot of ground covered on this album, and it often feels like this band has channeled a little bit of everything from alternative rock circa the 90s and 2000s.  It certainly sounds like this material could have been ripped out of that time period, but the strength of the writing makes this more than just a nostalgic sounding effort. 

With the instrumentation focused on big melodies and a much fuller sound, it makes sense that the vocal work would adopt an airier pitch that allows for the singing to soar over top of the recording.  Eric Richter and Jeremy Gomez both contribute singing throughout Suburban Eyes’ debut, and there’s a more somber and reflective feel to the performances that draw you in.  What is most interesting is the way the vocal styles shift to match what the instrumentals are doing, as the songs with the more straightforward hooks go for prominent singing while the more jangly and shoegaze leaning ones utilize a lot more echoed and effects-laden pitches.  This is utilized particularly well on “Perfect Hands” where the singing sounds like its in between the layers of distortion, becoming another warm and inviting layer that makes the song so enticing.   If it’s been years or even decades since you last heard Richter’s work you’ll find that his approach is very different from Christie Front Drive, but it suits what Suburban Eyes is going for perfectly and often feels closer to the shimmering alternative rock of years past.

Based on the list of bands that Suburban Eyes’ members have been involved in over the past three decades, you might go into their debut expecting slower or noisier emo and indie rock.  But they’ve instead pulled in a much broader range of styles, exploring aspects of alternative, indie rock, and shoegaze that were finding their own voice around the same time that this trio was developing the emo landscape.  Despite the sense of nostalgia the sound invokes, it doesn’t come off as dated and the big, sweeping production allows for the hooks to grab you from the get-go.  Admittedly a few of the most straightforward tracks aren’t quite as engaging as the ones that keep you on your toes, but these types of fully formed and polished debuts aren’t often the norm.  With the amount of variety already on display I can’t wait to hear how Suburban Eyes continues to progress, as there’s a number of directions they could choose to go in.  Suburban Eyes is available from Spartan Records.

-Review by Chris Dahlberg