There’s a certain brand of pop/rock that’s almost too enjoyable for its own good. Alex Brown Church’s Sea Wolf isn’t heavy-hitting rock, or backwoods folk, or any other extreme, other than just easy to listen to. It might never be fashionable or on the hit parade, but an album like Through a Dark Wood is a pleasure.
Never too serious, or too unserious, Church’s brightening emotion on such tracks as “Break It Down” and the uplifting finish “Two of Us” is earned. This is not ‘up with people’, but an honest take on “Fear of Failure”, a relaxed appreciation of life in “I Went Up, I Went Down”. The country-rock, indie-folk stylings aren’t overdone, just there to facilitate the song.
Like Matt Pond PA, as Sea Wolf, Alex Brown Church makes simply enjoyable music – that doesn’t need to be anything more.
