"Shine a little light, don't wrestle with the night, don't think about the future."

Afternoon all!


Firstly, apologies for the somewhat late post, but here it is nonetheless. However, despite my being somewhat still ill, I've had plenty of time to give London-based Dry The River's most recent offering. And let me tell you, what an offering it is. I've been following this band for several months now, so I'll try and be as objective as I can, but I'm bound to sound a little biased. That said, if you bear with me and give some of the music a listen I'm sure you'll agree with me!

'Dry The River' Website

Before I delve into the music, I just wanted to show you the album cover. While I realise it isn't directly the band creating the images, I think this one in particular helps to show the kind of band Dry The River are. They seem to me very much a band that's concerned with creating something that's pleasing to listen to, that makes you think a bit, and isn't obsessed with fame or searching after money and fame.


That said, they've had rather a lot of success on the radio lately, and are extremely fortunate to have a very good promotion team and a lot of luck. But personally, I think the biggest reason they've done so well so early is because of their obvious talent and passion for music, in a genre that happens to be quite popular at the moment. In today's culture of celebrity and often bland, expressionless music where one song runs into the next, it's very easy to be critical of anything popular. This is nothing new of course, and as educated as I think I am about music, there is often this hipsterish backlash culture that vilifies anything popular. 


With that in mind, I'd like you to give Dry The River a chance. Their genre ranges from a kind of jolly folk rock to elements of pop to something quite rocky and gritty in places. It's hard to describe exactly what genre they are, something like Mumford and Sons but with a bit more of a rock vibe. This kind of folk rock is very popular at the moment, and often despised by "true" folk aficionados because it's not proper folk. An understandable comment, when the genre you love isn't accurately represented. There are plenty of proper folk bands out there for people to get into however, and rightly they should! But that shouldn't stop you from enjoying 'Shallow Bed'.

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Dry the River, sitting pensively against walls since 2009.

As mentioned already, Dry The River have quite a range of sounds, varying from the quiet and thoughtful acoustic sounds to the hard-hitting power of rock. 'Shallow Bed' has all sorts to offer, from uplifting, upbeat melodies in "The Chamber & The Valves", to the slow, pleasant and pensive guitar plucking of "Bible Belt", stopping off with almost a little country and western in "Shaker Hymns", through finally to the emotional roller-coaster of passion that is "No Rest", the band's most recent single and my favourite song of the album.

That for me is one of the reasons I love this band and the album so much. Other than being expertly crafted musically, and very well produced (another blessing/curse of early fame), one thing that stands out for me is the amount of passion the band has. It stands out more in some songs than others, but all have a certain vehemence behind the music. For instance, when Peter Liddle belts out the words "I loved you in the best way possible" in "No Rest", you can truly feel that passion in abundance. It's the kind of music that wants to make you both cry a little to yourself, and shout out over the rooftops because you're filled with a desire to express what you're feeling.


For me, that's something pretty important. If you don't care about your music, why should your listener? That's the great thing about this band, they seem to pour all their energy and emotion into their songs, which can be hard to find these days. Many artists talk about their passion for music, but to see it truly come alive in 'Shallow Bed' makes it definitely worth a listen. Plus, from various tweets and interviews and such they seem like genuinely nice guys, eager to share their music with people, and just happy and excited they've been lucky to come this far so early on in their careers.

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Look at them. Beautiful beards, beautiful music.

You can see from the above picture what I mean. I regret that I've not been able to seem this band live yet, as by all accounts it's a truly special experience. One final thing I'd recommend from the album is the lyrics. A lot of the time lyrics are overlooked these days, which is truly a shame. I often listen closely to lyrics in my music, so when they're done well it stands out for me.

I realise you need simple and catchy lyrics sometimes for people to remember them and join in, but I don't think that should come at the expense of quality. Combined with the music's passion, the lyrics echo this sentiment and make you listen closely to try and make sense of that line you'd normally just hum along to because you couldn't hear it properly. That said, themes of religion and love always go down well when it comes to lyrics (provided they're done right of course!), both being very malleable subjects, and 'Shallow Bed' does not disappoint when it comes to these.

Anyway, that's enough from me, I really do hope you check out this album, listen to a few songs on Youtube at the very least. On a more personal note, "No Rest" was exactly the song I needed to help me through a messy breakup, just a little testament to it's emotional prowess. I'll leave you with a little factoid: right now I'm listening to "Lion's Den", the albums final track, as I've just finished listening to it for the umpteenth time.

~ Toby