Silver Speakers – Streetlights And Stars

This reviewer, amongst a host of others in magazines and across the blogosphere, toss out the term “indie” altogether too loosely, though we treat the word like it’s a hallowed badge of honor. It’s as if, by simply attaching “indie” as a adjectival modifier to a traditional musical genre (rock, pop, and folk are quite popular) to describe someone’s music, we are granting that person’s art with an increased level of coolness and hip-ness. And while it might be appropriate to use it in some instances (“indie” as its own genre does have some defining characteristics), we have nearly begun to denude the word of its actual roots in the word “independent.”
Yes, it is possible to create a smart, fun “indie-pop” record on a major label (not to mention an “indie” label with major label backing, aka Sub Pop, et al), but that’s not really the point of the word at its true origin. Thus, this reviewer would like to propose that people of my ilk begin to rescind their over-employment of the word “indie,” in all of its possible usages, unless we are actually referring to music being made by singers and bands who are actually making their music independently, whether by actually self-releasing an album or releasing it through a true independent label.
For instance, let’s look the example of Silver Speakers, the brainchild of one Tyrone Warner, and signed to Graven Records, a small Canadian artist collective whose primary mission is “to have musicians making music the way they want and making that music as listener-accessible as possible.” It’s rather evident that the Mr. Warner has taken that ethos to heart because, over the entirety of the new record, entitled Streetlights And Stars, the songs bounce between spacey rock and warbly folk, creating a sound that is both familiar, yet all its own.
Like many acts that seek to marry somewhat disparate motifs into a cohesive whole (Blitzen Trapper comes to mind), the primary mission of Silver Speakers seems to be making sure that each song is strong on its own merits before worrying about track arrangement on the final album. Granted, determining how the songs on the album flow in and out of each other to create a worthwhile listening experience proves to an important challenge (and one that the band accomplishes with aplomb), but you first must have great songs present to make the arrangement relevant.
Silver Speakers shines at making solid folk-meets-rock songs where no one instrument or voice achieves dominance over the others, resulting in a record that is the definition of balanced production values. Of course, the downside to such sonic democracy is that there times when tracks begin to sound a bit too one another, creating a “ho-hum” effect when things slow down too much. For every outstanding song like “(What Is) The Light,” “Joshua (You Left),” and “Actuary’s Lament,” there exist tired cuts like “Singer-Songwriter Anthem” and “Scarborough Sky” where the patterns are all too familiar and often languid.
In the end, what is important to take away from Streetlights And Stars, besides being an indie-folk/rock record that deserves the adjective “indie,” is that it’s an appealing album, made by a talented musician on his own terms for fans of good music that’s devoid of industry pretense. Fans of honest storytelling stylings of Damien Jurado and David Bazan will find much to enjoy from Silver Speakers.