Seam
are a progressive rock quartet from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada - who now go by the name Aukland. They're the
typical Canadian poppy, folky, rocky, quartet who regularly play shows to
friends and fans. Sean Sroka heads the project, to which the quartet almost take their
name. They released an EP titled Sketches earlier in the year, which
features a chaotic six minute finale, with a title of the same name. Sroka has
a distinctive smokey vocal, fitting of the style of folk Seam play. It's a
slow, moody structure reminiscent of post rock bands, but with vocals -
obviously. Sroka has his vocals and lyrics wrapped around his pen, as the
titular track suggests.
"Sketches" opens with a powerful bass motif delivered by Andrew
Thomas. It develops in to a full blown Seam track, with energy, emotion, and a
bit of that Canadian power Neil Young's always talked about. Sroka plays the rhythm
guitar well, utilising reverb and delay on his guitar, which comes across as
quiet before the storm. The storm then comes in with Jeff Campana's lead guitar
riff. It's a sodomising drone, penetrating the audiences’ ears with a branch of
noise rock. Then "Sketches" swings in motion, a complete track, with
a defining loud chorus. It's not an amazing track, but having listened to
Seam's EP, it's by far the best track they could pick to close it. There's a
synthesizer replicating strings, and layers of Campana's guitar, creating a
multi-universe - one where the percussion is neither overbearing, nor quiet.
This is a great mix of instrumentation, coming together to form a six minute
celebration.
~Eddie Gibson
