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Originally formed in 1999 as a teenaged six-piece called Silverslut, this Uppsala, Sweden group changed their name to The Search in 2003 and released their self-titled debut a year later. After going through a few lineup changes, they’re now a quartet – with only singer/guitarist Razmig Tekeyan remaining from Silverslut’s incarnation – and this is their seventh LP, following 2011’s excellent Staying Alive in a Country Industrialized. Throughout their eleven-year existence, they’ve been compared to a bevy of ‘70s/80s British atmospheric pop/rock bands. While the early LPs had a darker Cure/Joy Division feel, other influences from that fruitful post-punk era surface more often on Solace.
For evidence, look no further than the first four tracks. On the opening, Twin Peaks-like instrumental “Solace,” Tekeyan’s and Stephen Burt’s shimmering, billowy guitar textures evoke The Chameleons; bassist Viktor Thylwe’s and drummer Rickard Engström’s piledriving rhythms and Tekeyan’s passionate vocals on “You Deserve More” summon up Adrian Borland and The Sound; the glistening, glacial ambience on “Some Pick on the Weakest After Sensing Their Fears” elicits And Also the Trees (with Chameleons “Soul in Isolation”-esque drumming!); and the bright, melodic Johnny Marr-inspired guitar patterns on “I Want to Belong” recall The Smiths. As well, bouncy, skipping, advice-imparting songs “Wake Up from Your Electronic Hallucinations” and “Embrace Who You Are” bring to mind Hard Land Hard Rain-era Aztec Camera.
Lyrically, Tekeyan doesn’t shy away from thoughtfully tackling tricky topics. For example, “You Deserve More” addresses domestic abuse from the perspective of a concerned, compassionate friend, while “School is Cruel” offers a student sympathetic suggestions on surviving a stringent educational system. Elsewhere, Tekeyan turns storyteller, sometimes inserting himself into the characters’ roles. To wit, “Young Mother” is about an orphaned woman raising children while working as a wartime nurse, and “Cursed with Survival” depicts a sailor lost at sea. But despite the occasionally weighty subject matter, Tekeyan doesn’t come off ponderous or pretentious, and the band’s playing feels lithe, not laborious.
As was apparent on Staying Alive, The Search have achieved a balance between the more direct, harder-hitting attack of 2007’s Deranged Minds Unite and 2008’s Saturnine Songs, and the dreamier, expansive style of 2011’s The Search for Connection Contact and Community. If it’s solace you crave, this LP provides an ample dose, both in its music and words. (thesearch.bandcamp.com)
