One habit that our fellow indie pop obsessives sometimes fall into is the belief that their new-found and completely wonderful indie pop band should never change, but rather should continue to record similar songs for the duration. And why not? We love those songs and we want to hear more of them -- that's why we are indie pop obsessives. Right? And each of these fans can probably justify their beliefs by citing bands that disappointed them by changing and became worse. But we are here to sing another tune (metaphorically speaking, we don't sing well, we write).
So, friends, today's story is about a band that blows the narrow belief discussed above off the stage. When we first met Melbourne's Quivers they were one of those precious jangle and chime bands that we keep close to our hearts and collect. And in addition to the jangle and chime, their songwriting had a depth and humanity that put them a cut above 99 percent of bands (citation omitted) and they are sincerely good people. If you are an indie pop fan, you should have a copy of their debut Golden Doubt. We still play it regularly three years later. But now comes their second album, Oyster Cuts, and we are confronted with a changed Quivers. Oh, there still is plenty of jangle and chime. But there is plenty of rocking guitar riffs, more shared vocals and a very appealing penchant for enthusiastic all-hands-on-deck choruses. Somewhat improbably, the songwriting is even sharper, fearless and open-hearted than the debut, with a wider range and more nuance to match the increasingly detailed musicianship and production. They can make you laugh and dance, they can bring tears (try the lovely "Grief Has Feathers"), and they can make you laugh through your tears. Oyster Cuts is an album with heart, guts, brains and soul, and you deserve it.
We congratulated the front man Sam Nicholson when we learned that Quivers signed to Merge Records. Now that we have heard Oyster Cuts, we would like to congratulate Merge Records for being able to sign Quivers.
The band is Bella Quinlan (vocal/bass), Sam Nicholson (vocals/guitars/keys/songwriting), Michael Panton (vocals/guitar/tape loops), and Holly Thomas (vocals/drums/percussion). The album is out now in digital, vinyl and CD formats.
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