Artist: Sea Lions
Album: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask
Label: Slumberland Records
Rating: 7.5

Being a Rock Star used to be a profession. I know so because in the old board game “Whoisit? you could be any number of occupations ranging from waiter, to football player to rock star. The days of Ziggy Stardust are gone, and even though the Rolling Stones and U2 are still kicking, it’s almost passé to be a “rock star” now, just ask Nickelback. Following the petition for them not to play the halftime Thanksgiving game in Detroit, there’s now a petition for them to not play halftime at the Grey Cup which is being held in their own home town. For the Sea Lions who have just released their debut album, it seems that they have settled into this new era of making music not for the fame, but just for a feeling of self worth and fun of it.

In the bio write up for Sea Lions they say that they are just a bunch of friends from Oxnard, California who play music together. Forming a band with a bunch of friends with the goal of a very specific sound is one of the more common and better reasons to form a band these days. The Sea Lions are a reverb surf pop band, plain and simple.There will be no surprises listening to this album, and for a lot of people, myself included, that’s just fine. Sure the reverb, surf sound, is the sound du jour, but the Sea Lions approach it in a very carefree way, just having fun, writing songs about longing and personal problems. Sea Lions sound exactly what their bio states, and that’s kind of a rarity these days, but it’s the fact that they’re all friends really comes out in their sound and the overall approach of this band. It’s innocent, fun, and nostalgic.

The only thing with a band like Sea Lions is that you know that they couldn’t possibly have a long life. Every song on the album is a derivative on a specific sound and theme, trying to change that dynamic would probably call for just forming a new band all together. So without the pressure of trying to be big rock stars, the musicians and the listeners are free to just let it be whatever it’s going to be. You may get a bit tired listening to 15 songs that are all under 3 minutes long, and kind of sound the same, but it’s a sound that you can continue to come back to no matter what else you’ve been listening to prior and it’ll still seem refreshing. Just remember when listening to Sea Lions and other bands like it, that you should use a decent stereo, because it’s already a trebly reverb sound, so don’t try listening through your tinny laptop speakers.

Michael Unger