Review of Riser's CD "Untitled"

Riser: Untitled

Experience dictates that all but a few outstanding songs ever last this longer than 6 mins 30 secs. Therefore it is with some trepidation I note Riser's average track time somewhere above this. The band adopt the common song writing stance of not cutting out the weaker moments from their compositions and not taking the time to reflect whether the phrase "let's play this bar 32 times" might not actually have a place in music. Rarely do they brush against anything that can be called memorable and in an Indie-prog style find their way through each dreamy / sleepy song with slow motion Verve and Mansun-esque guitar builds. In a single listen you'd be hard pushed to differentiate between tracks such is the infrequent change of pace, melody, vocal style, playing or guitar sound. In all it's numbing and might just find a place as an accompaniment to a night of 20 joints and the old tried and tested past time of staring at your mates bedroom ceiling.

• www.riser.org.uk

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