Sleigh bells are a New York duo formed by Guitarist Derek E. Miller and singer Alexis Krauss. What we have is an album just over the half hour mark filled with volume and Pop songs. They get labelled Noise Pop, but when you think of Noise Pop you look at artists like The Jesus & Mary Chain, or Yo La Tengo, but let's get this out of the way. Sleigh Bells are nothing of the sort.
What you get is short, 3 minute, distortion. That more a less sums up Sleigh Bells. The loudness is certainly good, if you're into that kind of thing. I personally enjoy some loud albums, but they can't be too loud because it just wears off. Thankfully at the half hour mark Sleigh Bells don't over do it. Some of the tracks are enjoyable and listenable without cringing, such as Rill Rill, which has a fantastic sample of the Funkadelic song Can You Get to That.
Everything is surrounded in clapping and distortion, even the vocals on tracks such as Infinity Guitar are distorted, for the good, because this is a well produced song but the vocals will split your opinion. That is because, does it really need vocals? It would make a great instrumental, with a killing bass driven final minute.
It's just a little tacky.. Everything isn't as special as you first think. The first listen will be the best because this album certainly isn't unique, it doesn't grow on you. Everything you hear is the work of Studio recordings. I certainly wouldn't go to see this band live, it's filled with beats that could be used for Hip-Hop, but instead used for this Noise thing they have going on. Crown On The Ground is possibly the most distorted and has the best vocals in my opinion. It's extremely loud and messy.
It has some positives, Rill Rill being a very good track. If you're into loud music and Noise, then you should enjoy this album more than say, a Folk fan. They have recorded Sleigh Bells second album and i cant exactly see it being fantastic, it should be an improvement on this.
5.9