Welcome - Sirs

Impulsively absorbing, subverting and recontextualising an alternative pop lineage peculiar to them, Welcome¹s sound is melodic, and rhythmically and sonically ambitious, their music sitting somewhere between the fractured, exploratory idealism of 60¹s psych pop (The Creation, Syd Barrett¹s Pink Floyd, Revolver-era Beatles) and such non-conformist US alt-rock luminaries as Unwound, The Breeders, or Deerhoof. At times cracked and claustrophobic, at others open, inviting or euphoric, Welcome cram more ideas than you`ll hear in 97% of the indie music out there right now.

"5 stars.. here are dozens of ways to approximate the angles at which Welcome comes at it sound. Picture The Beatles growing up a decade later, latching onto punk rock`s noisy and nihilistic streak with the same commitment to the peace, love and Merseybeat melodies. Picture The Velvet Underground skipping the needle in favor of the dose, and spiraling off into avant-noise acid trips. Picture The Television Personalities jamming with XTC`s psychedelic incarnation, The Dukes of the Stratosphear. Picture The Vaselines writing songs about having sex with Television while Herman`s Hermits videotapes the affair. Now picture tossing each one of those scenarios into a mulcher and spreading the compost over a base of indie-rock know-how and art-school cleverness, and maybe, just maybe, you have a shadow of a notion about where Welcome is headed. Sirs is one of those albums that comes out of nowhere, reveling in its own blend of idiosyncrasies while still coming off as a remarkably comfortable fit to your ears. And while harping on the band`s charmingly unique sound`s one thing, but the real story is how well Welcome fits everything together on Sirs. Rarely do bands deliver a debut that`s as fully realized and singular as the one Welcome gives us with Sirs. Although a melodic sense that should lure fans away from their Shins and The Apples in Stereo albums defines the effort, Welcome wraps it all up in a hail of angular punk guitars, swirling psychedelic atmospheres and enough assorted clanging guitar tones to ward off any hope of a nice-and-mild indie-pop presence. In fact, Sirs` Velvets-like devotion to harsh, in-the-red guitars and dying reverb pedals is nearly a challenge to listeners: Find the pop, we dare you, it taunts.. Sirs is a new chapter in the great book of rock. It should be a good read. A very good read."-Aversion.com.

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