Angus & Julia Stone - Self Titled

"Hehe, he'll never know about this picture."

Anyone who talks to me frequently has probably heard me complain about indie and how surprisingly stale of a genre it has become in recent years.  Indie used to be a genre that you could turn to and be guaranteed to hear something different than the status quo.  Especially with the recent rise in the indie-pop sub genre, I have noticed just how redundant indie has become.  Then again, if you take the most redundant genre, pop, and mix it with the least redundant genre, there's a chance that it's still just going to be redundant.  You can make an argument that I'm just a hater but the indie-pop genre is something that I really wanted to like.  I mean, I tried really hard.  I didn't just give it a chance, I kept going back over and over hoping that there would be some variety.  For the past few years, my local alternative station has become a haven for indie-pop, and I kept wishing that all of the songs would stop sounding the same.

It didn't happen.

Sure there are a few exceptions, but the truth is that there really is a lack of creativity.  In all honesty, I think it's a genre that has lots of potential to break the walls of compositional confinement.  However, it's really the exact opposite.  Like in regular pop music, many of the singers and instrumentalists are incredibly interchangeable and I often get them confused since most of them fall within the same cultural stereotypes.

Angus & Julia Stone are one of the few groups to rise up and make the genre their own instead of trying to drag their career along with catchy pop-synth progressions.  Although I think that their genre would be better defined as indie-folk, they definitely have a fair number of songs that are driven by indie-pop elements.

It may be easy to assume that Angus and Julia are husband and wife due to sharing the last name, but they are actually brother and sister; which makes you feel incredibly awkward after making the mistake unless... <insert redneck joke here>  The duo started making guitar driven music together in their home country of Australia in 2006, but didn't come out with a self-titled album until 2014.  However, they did have several releases before this one.

This brings us to what I want to talk about today.  Although Angus & Julia Stone have seen a fair amount of success with some of their previous singles such as "Big Jet Plane" and "Paper Aeroplane," based on what I have heard of their earlier material, they are still a duo that gets better and better with each release.

Angus & Julia Stone's self-titled album starts with a song that is relatively up-tempo.  "A Heartbreak" is actually rather r&b based at its roots with the tonality of the guitars and the swing feel of the drum kit.  It's a pretty solid song and I can see why they made a music video for it as it's pretty catchy.  However, I don't think it's the best of what this album has to offer.

A better song is "Grizzly Bear," the third track on the album.  Like "A Heartbreak," it as a bit of an r&b feel particularly in the keyboard, bass, and drum kit as they are very flowing and lightly accented.  Although the lyrical content is pretty average in this song, this one really comes together instrumentally.  The lead guitar almost never repeats the same thing twice and complements the laid-back rhythm section incredibly well.  On top of that, the chorus is downright infectious.  I bet after two or three listens to this song, you'll be strolling by singing "ba-baba-ba-ba---ba" at least in your head, if not out loud.

Some days watching a television of static from the worst angle is all I got too

It's not until the fifth song "Wherever You Are" that you realize how talented this duo really is.  You won't hear Julia wail out the high notes or Angus shred on the guitar but the textures that they create with their voices and guitar playing are really just outstanding.  Although trained singers would frown upon Julia's half-whispers as they are a clear indication that she is singing straight from the throat instead of down from the diaphragm, I think that the style greatly enhances their sound and distances them from other indie-pop singers that, more-or-less, sound the same.  The guitar-work is also incredibly heartfelt.  Every note feels like it was cherished and nurtured before making a sound.  This song is actually my favorite on the album as both Julia and Angus emote incredibly well.  It also has some of the best lyrics that the album has to offer.  If there's any song you should check out on this album, it's definitely this one.

"I could live in your old car with a broken stereo.  I want to be wherever, wherever you are."

This album is incredibly good in what it sets out to do and bringing quality music to the table.  Indie-pop is a genre that I had basically given up on and even though this isn't exactly indie-pop, it still has proven that the genre can do better than it's doing now as, in my opinion, this is way better than the indie-pop that is being played on the radio.  I highly recommend this album to anyone regardless of music taste as I never thought I would enjoy this style of music as much as I did.  Without a doubt in my mind, this is my favorite album from 2014.  The quality of music never drops off despite having over an hour's worth of material on it.  The only critique I have of this album is the occasionally average lyrics.  However, the majority of the lyrics are above-average and, at times, show brilliance.  When the lyrics are more typical, it's still easy to give it a pass because the songs are so expertly performed.

Image:  http://originals.last.fm/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Angus-Julia-Stone.jpg