Mean Creek Heads Toward The Sky

Caught in a miasmic haze of distortion, atmospheric guitars, and girl/boy vocals, Boston band, Mean Creek are a band that sound remarkably like another Boston band that did the same thing nearly twenty years ago. Coming off as a slightly more folky version of Tribe, Mean Creek have taken the blueprint of the once awesome band and updated it somewhere in the middle of a Midwestern prairie. Their album, The Sky(or the Underground) is a work of ethereal mastery that takes crunchy indie rock and finds the beauty in it, shines it up and a bit and sends it skyward.

The Sky(or the Underground) is a heavy, 90's like record that sounds more post grunge than post punk and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a record that enjoys the fact that it's distorted and gritty and is loaded with gauzy moments that seem like morning fog waiting to burn off. It's a record that takes some time to appreciate as it's treasures aren't instantly accessible. But, when The Sky(or the Underground) finally breaks through, the songs through out are irresistibly powerful while still having a degree of pop sheen to them. It's that sheen that carries The Sky(or the Underground) heavenward and while it might seem like a rough take off at first once this bird is up it's smooth skies all the way.

"Light Into Dark," is a perfect example of just how Mean Creek are able to stack the deck. Utilizing the quiet loud methodology and wrapping it with a chorus that you'll never forget and then layering in guitars that sound as if they were recorded with glass strings the song is a beautiful pop song that's clearly destined for the clouds. Much of The Sky(or the Underground) is like that, if you'll pardon the pun. It's grace under pressure times ten and it's really Mean Creek's ability to harness the chaos that they envelope themselves in that allows The Sky(or the Underground) to be such a great record.

Anyone who's been fond of Boston's legacy of classic indie rock and alternative bands over the last twenty years will find Mean Creek to be the leader of the new school. The Sky(or the Underground) is a shimmering beaut of a record that's as pastoral as it is urban. It's a record that has its head is in the clouds and Mean Creek does everything in it's ability to keep it there, even if it's not above Boston. They do a great job of this and as a result The Sky(or the Underground) is a 90's classic 18 years in the making.