Hurricane Bells began as a solo side-project for Longwave’s Steve Schiltz, but has grown into something more. Schiltz’s Bells got a serious boost when it was put on the hugely successful Twilight: New Moon soundtrack (QRO review), which led to the 2009 release of debut full-length Tonight Is the Ghost (QRO review), and 2010’s covers EP Down Comes the Rain (QRO review). Tonight was a still somewhat forming alt-twang release, while Rain mixed that twang with tracks of indie-fuzz. For Tides and Tales, Schiltz has widened his ambitions for a wider & fuller record.
Where there was once only alt-country there are now other places & decades on Tides, including the sunny sixties "The Ghost of Her" and the nighttime eighties smooth in "Hours Like Days" and closing instrumental "The Hunger Moon". But there’s also pressing and purposeful indie sounds to "Possibilities" and "Let’s Go" (though the former is a bit marred by unnecessary guitar solo-wankery). Instead of too sad, Tales verges on the too sweet – "Go" is up without being too up, and the lower-fi "House On Fire" is nicely wry, but then the Casio tone love call "Before I’m Gone" and sway-whistle "If This Night Is Over" are too much, especially as they’re back-to-back on the track listing.
Alt-country is a style that many artists pick up for their solo side-projects, since it’s easy to both practice and perform on your own – but that leads to too much of it (is there any band frontman who hasn’t done a solo alt-country record these days?…). New Moon aside (and it was a good soundtrack, if for a terrible film franchise), Steve Schiltz still struggled to stand out as Hurricane Bells before – but is really starting to make (another) name for himself with Tides and Tales.
MP3 Stream: "Let’s Go"
