Genetic Drift - Sunrise Compromise

Genetic Drift

Sunrise Compromise
self-released; 2015

3.1 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

The story of Genetic Drift is something that I knew would happen at some point. The band came together in middle school through an obsession over Guitar Hero. They would go on to play “real” instruments, which would eventually lead to their release Sunrise Compromise. 

At this point Genetic Drift sounds derivative of about twenty different bands with no discerning qualities that would make them stick out. They play loose indie-rock and you can hear influences that range from The Strokes and Weezer. There are two major issues they are going to have to relinquish if they hope to get a larger fan base. 

The production on Sunrise Compromise is about equal to a live demo. There's a laundry list of issues that I’m not going to get into but they are quite obvious to anyone with a set of ears. The other thing is the band is rarely in the pocket when they play together. In fact they are so off time at points that I thought they were just screwing with me. Suffice it to say that in Whiplash J.K. Simmons character’s head would explode if he heard this music. 

Although the music doesn’t offer much originality there are a couple of songs that show potential. To the band’s credit they seem like they are having fun. It’s obvious within the first song “Chills to the Bone (The Shark Song),” which sounds like a combination between pop-punk and Vampire Weekend. The song revolves around little more than a couple of power chords, a catchy lead part and a decent vocal performance. As the album progresses the songs rely on that formula. 

“Sing-Song Woo” is one of the highlights but is hard to enjoy because of the recording quality. “Lonely Harry” features some of the inventive vocal parts while “American Dream” is a punk inspired  tune. They close with “Ocean Rend,” which is the most emotionally resonant song on the album.

Genetic Drift say that their dream is to play in front of thousands. The cold hard truth that they need to hear is that if they want to do that they are going to have to make some improvements. First and foremost they need to tighten up their performances. Being in time is expected if you are a professional band. If Genetic Drift hopes to be anything other than another college band that falls apart after graduation then some more originality and precision will need to be introduced into the mix. 

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