Burly Herd -​ South Sea

Burly Herd

​South Sea
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​

One of the benefits of being a band in 2015 as opposed to any time before the turn of the century is that all you really need is a laptop to make a demo quality recording. That’s exactly what Burly Herd did. The band formed in 2015 and as soon as they had some material went to work recording their music in a cabin. 

They named their recording South Sea that contains four songs which give you an idea of their sound. The recording quality is about what you would expect from the conditions but certainly points to a band that has already managed to click and demonstrate their chemistry. I was reminded of a number of bands such Wild Nothing, The Smiths and even Radiohead at times. I realize those bands are quite different but you should understand what I am referring to when you take a listen.

In fact my reference to Wild Nothing comes from the first song “South Sea.” It contains reverb laced guitar and a serene dance vibe that sounds good on the band. Truth be told you could easily make a case for “South Sea” being the highlight of the four. The vocal delivery is smooth and the vocal harmonies are also done quite well. 

“Your Burden” contains some falsetto, which reminded me of Thom Yorke. It sounded good. Unfortunately there are some other times where the vocal delivery didn't quite pan out as well. For example the vocals were too buried underneath the distortion right after the four-minute- mark. Things get better when the vocalist moves up an octave. “Climbtime (Time To Climb)” is another solid track revolving around bright pads and clean guitar while the closer “Ordinary Day” is a stripped back acoustic number that really shines a light on the vocals. 

The next logical step for Burly Herd is to get a bump in the recording quality and continue to define their originality. For as long as they have been together the band shows a lot of promise. They fit into a case of wait and see but I predict good things.

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