The Dreaming Spires’ second album Searching For The Supertruth has been referred to as the “most thrilling country rock debut album since Big Star,” and posited as being “country’s answer to shoegaze”. True though such claims may be, hidden within the record is a ringing reference to one of the greatest songwriting influences of any time.
Opening with I Still Believe In You, the appreciation for shoegaze is soon apparent, with crackling distortion masking a keenly felt pop sensibility. All Kinds Of People and the title track throw a more modern influence into the fray, with a nod towards the lighter and more stadium-friendly moments in Arcade Fire’s canon – the latter is what one might imagine a Win Butler take on the Big Star…
320 kbps | 110 MB UL | MC ** FLAC
…template to sound like. It’s all very finely composed and worthy of the acclaim The Dreaming Spires have received.
Towards the record’s middle segment though, references to one of England’s premier acts begin to rear their head. Despite its early suggestions of Eagles-esque soft rock, under its shell Easy Rider has Roger Waters’ Pink Floyd in its heart. It’s in its grandiose appreciation for melody and the scale of what a country rock song can be, something that’s felt in the blissed-out We Used To Have Parties and stellar So Pretty. Either side of those tracks are the more straight-up Big Star-referencing numbers and the aforementioned lashings of shoegaze tonality.
What sets Searching For The Supertruth apart from its contemporaries is the broad scope that its affection for prog rock offers. Where contemporary country rock tends to look inwards or backwards, Searching For The Supertruth looks onwards and upwards.
1. Still Believe In You
2. All Kinds Of People
3. Searching For The Supertruth
4. Strange Glue
5. Easy Rider
6. Dusty In Memphis
7. We Used To Have Parties
8. If I Didn’t Know You
9. When The Magic Comes
10. So Pretty