Seneca Hawk - Sun Year Long
Sun Year Long
About The Album - Sun Year Long is the debut album from Seneca Hawk recorded in Studio City, California, with Producer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). The album was recorded on 2-inch reel-to-reel analog tape. The first single off the album, "Steal Your Heart Away," was released digitally on November 3, 2009. The song got 500,000 plays in the iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge 3.
The first thing that struck me when listening to this album was the excellent versatility in the vocal performance by the lead singer who, it seems, can effortlessly switch between harsh rock songs and slower, more gentle, love songs. His voice ranges well from the very powerful and edgy opening track Dozen Hearts to the slower, quieter track directly after it entitled You’re Sweet.
The album seemed to follow the pattern of upbeat song, downbeat song for the opening half, however with the excellent musicianship on show here it is always likely there will be something that sticks out in even the slowest of songs on this album. Whether it be the guitar solo in Oceans Apart, which really encapsulates the essence of the song in an obvious yet not overly ostentatious way, or the excellent mix of sounds in the impressive To the Eveningstar, which has contrasting guitar work throughout, providing a platform for the lead singer to show many different vocal styles.
The quicker paced songs provide a ray of sunshine every now and then and are often impeccably timed within the album. Just when a lift is needed it is provided with the first single to be taken from the album Steal Your Heart Away. This is more of a catchy indie rock song, different to the powerful almost country rock sound of the previous tracks in the album. Also one of my favourite tracks, Hooker, is a strong rock song with a good, quick tempo and a sharp, catchy guitar riff that ends the album on a high, upbeat note.
However, it comes right at the end after a succession of slower paced songs and is very much a necessity as without it the album would simply fade away. This section does contain excellent tracks such as Hard to Say, which uses backing vocals and a wall of sound technique intelligently and Light from Light, which builds up extremely well throughout the song and comes crashing down with a powerful, poignant ending.
It is fair to say this album covers many different types of genres, with a definite hint of blues and country in the opening few tracks in particular; some good indie vibes throughout; in your face rock anthems and even classic power ballad material. There is definitely something here for everyone.
High Points – There a quite a few to savour on this album including the aforementioned Steal Your Heart Away and Hooker, however the stand out highlights for me are the tracks Restless Sea and Finding A Way Home. Restless Sea bought the album back to a more rock style after the slower paced You’re Sweet. The rough vocals, in this instance, really blended well with a harsh and forceful guitar sound. There was a nice use of backing vocals, which were not over done but effortlessly introduced providing a smooth contrast behind a tough exterior. In my opinion the track Finding A Way Home could easily be the next single with an echo sound to the guitar that wouldn’t feel out of place in any classic rock song from any era. It again takes the album on an up with a quicker pace to it than the previous 2 tracks and stands out on this album as there is no other track like it.
Low Points – Unfortunately there were one or two on an otherwise very solid debut album. The tracks Las Cruces and Sweet Dreams seem to pale in to insignificance as they are both similar to each other, using slow guitar work and smooth vocals. Whilst not being bad tracks they just seem to blend in to the background without having much to say and don’t particularly stand out.
Overall – An album of contrasts between slower songs and more hard-hitting, in your face rock material. It’s clear that there is great musicianship throughout and the band really makes a great sound considering there are only three of them. The vocalist is excellent showing good versatility between a rough, harsh, gravelly sound and a smoother more velvety sound for the slower songs which bodes extremely well for the future as too many vocalists these days rely on one particular trademark genre. If you like traditional classic rock then this album is definitely for you and it experiments further on the genre with some blues, country, indie and power ballads. There is definitely a mixture here which makes the album very accessible and means there should be something for everybody.
Liam Spencer
Guitar Break Rating: 