Article by Declan Hills
Photos by Brian Snell / Snelsey Photos
On Eyes Open and Staring, Blind Commentary offer a crushing and shimmering alternative-influenced soundscape.
Sound is a miracle. The cocktail of interactions that take place when pressure oscillates across time and space is difficult to accurately model, yet it happens. On top of the unlikelihood of the existence of these visibly undetectable pressure changes, millennia of evolutionary processes allow lifeforms like us to perceive the displacement of particles due to sound-pressure through holes on either side of our skulls. So many small components in motion, so many microinteractions with exceedingly long-term consequences. I mean, think about it: we understand The Milky Way to be about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km across, and most of that is a soundless vacuum. In that incomprehensible magnitude of area - a veritable soundless wasteland - we hear.
Now that we’re feeling nice and small, I would like to recommend you use the miracle of hearing on an EP that is simultaneously as massive in sonic scale as Jupiter and as intimate in performance as a serotonin rush; Blind Commentary’s eyes open and staring. Opener “slowly, quickly, never again.” starts with the universal signals for loneliness; trembling electric piano and soft winter wind. This kind of music can only come from a place as flat and wistful as Saskatchewan. The opening living-sky ambience gives way to Commentary’s signature quiet/loud 90’s emo-esq catch-and-release; soft intimate verses and loud-as-shit verses. They have a mid-Canada Gleemer taste for minor-key grooves, but Blind Commentary can get angry. The temperature of the anguish increases across “slowly” before simmering into a spoken-word outro. “redmist”, a single from the band, looms. Bass chording hasn’t been used this tastefully in a few decades -probably since before anyone who wrote these songs was born - but BC put the collective wisdom of their 90s foremothers to good use. The soft and understated verses give way to choruses that walk a tightrope between overdrive sludge and delicate falsetto dishware. It’s smart and deliberate - this band does not put the first heavy riff and vocal line they think of to tape; they iterate.
The morose melodies on track 1 & 2 are discarded for more deliberate major-key writing on the back-nine, starting with “candle”. This track dabbles in power-pop (and even a little mathrock during the bridge) but is still a screamer. “candle” is abruptly snuffed for closer and high-point “frail” - where interplay between rhythmic chugging bright verb-y leads during verses are a sugar high. The choruses explode into Blind Commentary’s best melodic offerings and gnarliest tones. It’s sweet and salty - like all good snacks - and an appropriate cap to this promising band’s 4-track release.
Everything around us is in a precarious balance - so frail that it might collapse at any moment. It’s imperative to find stimuli that make us feel okay, if only for a few precious minutes. If you like 90’s emo, stoner rock, lots of yelling, and great songwriting, eyes might be what you’ve been looking for.
Blind Commentary invited Slow Down Molasses and Tracy Waters to join them in celebrating the release of their EP on July 13th at Fairhaven Bowl, presented by Beefy Records.
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