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Trespassers William Having
Nettwerk Records
The great complaint often leveled against “shoegaze” bands is one so often heard it has lost all meaning. You can’t dance to them. Well, then, let’s get something out the way right now.
You can’t dance to Trespassers William.
You can, however, mope, pout, chill, sigh, and be gorgeously pensive. But that’s about it.
Track listing:
01 Safe, Sound
02 What of Me?
03 Weakening
04 Eyes Like Bottles
05 I Don't Mind
06 Ledge
07 And We Lean In
08 My Hands Up
09 Low Point
10 No One
11 Matching Weight
Not to insinuate that that’s a flaw - Trespassers William (who have been around since the mid 1990s) are an engaging, wistful band with an elegiac sound all their own. But ultimately, this is a CD that could use a little more life, and some more musical variation.
Openers “Safe Sound” and “What of Me” are almost interchangeable, and for a while this poses little problem; both songs are lovely, rain-drenched and epic, like Sigur Ros under a dreary sky. “Eyes Like Bottles” provides a contrast with its sweet, guitar-driven sound, and vocalist Anna-Lynne Williams has a dreamy whisper, which accompanies it perfectly. But when “Ledge” and “My Hands Up” are added to the mix, the result is like an ice cream headache - the painful result of too much of a good (cold) thing.
After all, the problem is that Having comes off as something very beautiful, but also very cold - there’s no human emotion to this CD. It’s so lushly produced, so calm and cool in delivery that it lacks a fundamental exuberance and excitement. The songs, too, are slightly weak in their sameness; at some point they become impossible to distinguish. Williams’ soft coo is a restrained and aloof voice that never really connects. Trespassers William could use more clean, poppy moments like “No One” or (even better), the 10 minute wall-of-sound closer that is “Matching Weight.” Both songs are intensely different, but they provide a variety that Having sorely needs.
