Cedars

POPMATTERS REVIEW - JANUARY 2007



At a time when “indie rock” is becoming as trite and trite can be, give credit to Washington, DC’s Cedars for thinking on a grand scale. “When I hold my head up / It’s only to know I’m alive / This century,” frontman Brian Leatherman sings to start off Another Season. The music is big and bold as well, with layered guitars and synthesizers surging and drums punching and jibing. The rest of the songs on this sophomore EP follow suit, using lush atmospheres and Leatherman’s agreeably boyish voice, both of which garnered attention on 2004’s “Fleets” single, to try to find love and meaning in these most tense of times. “The Great Escape” may be a little too Coldplay for comfort, but Cedars’ strength is in introspective yet hopeful songs without the “we’re so sensitive” posturing. There are lots of delay pedals and strummed eighth notes here, while the subaquatic ballad “Song 7” suggests a range that might be explored further on a subsequent full-length. For now, Another Season suggests why Cedars may be the best unsigned band in America.

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ON TAP REVIEW - FEBRUARY 2007

Cedars seems to pull off something contradictory and remarkable on “Another Season.” The tracks that this local group deliver on this September 2006 release are at the same time sophisticated and accessible. On one level, the band’s self-released second EP offers just very good melodic rock. But the U2-meets-Interpol-inspired sound and in-depth musical layers make for tracks that get better with each closer listen. And while the sound can be compared to other more well-established acts, Cedars’ sound is its own. Driving guitars propel “This Century” and “The Great Escape.”

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QROMAG.COM REVIEW - FEBRUARY 2007

Cedars

Another Season EP

7.9 / 10



Album Reviews

Written by Jean Anderson

Monday, 12 February 2007

While The Cedars hail from the capital of the United States, they feel like they come from the capital of the United Kingdom. This isn’t just because their Another Season EP has track titles that bring to mind Britpop all-stars Blur with "The Great Escape" and "Song 7". The Cedars have a driving, expansive, and melodic sound, which has been as popular in Great Britain as British music has been in America. For a band with only one other EP under their belt (2004’s Safety In Numbers), they’re remarkably mature. The Cedars don’t need to push what they’re feeling down your throat; instead, they just lay it out there for you to hear, and that makes it all the more affecting.

Unsurprisingly for an EP, Another Season begins with probably its strongest track, "This Century", but the release is not some glorified single. "This Century" also serves as a moving opener, growing into its size both effortlessly and determinedly. The following "Holiday for the City" provides a good counterpoint in its more level simplicity. The Cedars may cover more emotional territory with the sad "Lamb" and the sweet "The Great Escape", but they reach their emotive pinnacle with the poignant "Black Book", which has just the right amount of sentiment, and just the right amount of space.



The Cedars go a lot slower, and much more atmospheric, on the final two tracks of Another Season, "Arrivals/Departures" and (the unimaginatively titled) "Song 7". Both are stripped down to barebones, except for a haunting background, and then flesh out in their second halves. Both also get more interesting then, especially "Arrivals/Departures", which is all the more impressive, as the latter part is "only" an instrumental.



While Safety In Numbers got little U.S. attention outside of their DC-area, its single ‘Fleets’ did receive U.K. airplay (under British label Bracken Records), and it’s no surprise The Cedars would go over well on that side of the Atlantic. This isn’t to say that the band is some retread of The Doves or The Dears (despite the similarities in names, especially of the latter): if Another Season sounds like good Anglo-indie, that’s because right now there’s a lot of great music coming over there – not for the first time – and at this moment there are a lot of great bands in America that match right up – not for the first time, either.

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SMOTHER.NET REVIEW - 2007

I knew it was going to happen. Amid all of those bands like the Killers who were hell-bent on recalling ‘80’s New Wave I just knew that there would be someone who would fill the void that U2 left us with when they started to become celebrities and not just rock icons. You know back in that whole “Sunday Bloody Sunday” style. Well Cedars has that stadium ready anthem sound down pat with haunting vocals reminiscent of Robert Smith and Morrissey with a bit of Joy Division’s gothic melancholy perfectly blended in. Based in my backyard of Washington, DC, Cedars is already drawing quite a buzz about them and deserve not only that but your fullest attention as well.

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FOXY DIGITAL REVIEW - FEBRUARY 2007



“This Century,” the opening track on this Washington, D.C. quartet’s third release suggests a heavy U2 fixation. Fortunately, lead vocalist/guitarist Brian Leatherman & Co. seem to have honed in on the latter’s pre-“Joshua Tree” catalog when they were an exciting new band to be reckoned with and not the pretetentious proselytizers that Bon-head and his cohorts turned into. “Holiday for the City” could have been an outtake from the “Boy” sessions, but I’m particularly impressed with Leatherman’s cascading guitar lines that suggest an acquaintance with Manchester’s fantastic Chameleons, one of the 80s’ great, unsung guitar bands. “Lamb” is a swaying dreamscape with Luke Mangels’ twinklinh keyboard flourishes indelibly affixing themselves to your brain.



Echo & The Bunnymen rear their moody little heads on “The Great Escape,” the low-key, atmospheric ballad of gloom and doom, “Arrivals Departures” recalls early Cure and the cleverly titled “Song 7” (yes, it’s the seventh track!) wraps things up with more electronic atmospherics and an acoustic guitar backing Leatherman’s sleepy observations. So if you can get past the cloying U2 cloning on most of the album, this should be a major attraction to fans of 80s New Wave rockers like The Chameleons, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, and very early U2. 8/10 --______________________________________________________



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Holiday for the City in Santo Domingo