Hurricane Bells : Down Comes the Rain EP

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hurricanebellsdowncomes.jpg" alt=" " />Longwave frontman Steve Schiltz covers alt-country even more as Hurricane Bells. ...
7.1 Invisible Bridges
2010 

Hurricane Bells : Down Comes the Rain EP Longwave (QRO album review) singer/guitarist Steve Schiltz’s solo side-project, Hurricane Bells, initially seemed like another indie artist dabbling in alt-country on the side.  But then Bells track "Monsters" got put on the soundtrack to the hugely successful Twilight: New Moon (QRO soundtrack review), and Bells’ debut Tonight Is the Ghost (QRO review) got a wider release.  Now Schiltz is following up with the mostly covers Down Comes the Rain EP, which splits the alt-country & indie-fuzz more starkly.

Of the two sides, the indie-fuzz is the stronger one; most notably with leadoff East River Pipe cover "Make a Deal With the City", which combines that fuzz with a relaxed strum.  The brighter "The Waiting Song" is more alt-country & still strong, but the EP does dip as it goes on.  "Into the Ocean", "The Deep End" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" are all very pretty, but also too twee, whether in the restrained little procession of Blue October cover "Ocean", softness of "Deep", or stripped choral of Shirelles cover "Tomorrow" (sung with Ashen Keilyn of Scout & Bells’ touring band).

With three of the five tracks being covers, Down Comes the Rain does feel like a quickie EP, before Hurricane Bells head out on tour with KT Tunstall this December.  And the division in sound between indie and country is a little too stark.  But Steve Schiltz is proving that Hurricane Bells is no ‘mere’ solo side-project.

MP3 Stream: "Make a Deal With the City"

{audio}/mp3/files/Hurricane Bells – Make a Deal With the City.mp3{/audio}

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