Great Northern co-leaders Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte have both been around the indie rock block a few times, Bixler in the actor's ego trip
30 Seconds to Mars and Stolte in the now-forgotten '90s band
Whirlpool. This time, however, they've gotten it right.
Great Northern's debut album has a lot of obvious antecedents, mostly from the
Dave Fridmann school of neo-psychedelia (
Mercury Rev,
Grandaddy, etc.) and in Stolte's narcotized, deadpan vocals, the classic 4AD dream pop bands. But
Trading Twilight for Daylight's inviting textures are married to a solid collection of tunes, with the terrific and unexpectedly catchy indie rocker "Home," the trippy
Flaming Lips-style singalong "A Sun a Sound" and the breathy piano ballad "City of Sleep" serving as particular standouts. Rather than merely relying on atmospheric production (although the well-recorded album has that in spades as well), Bixler and Stolte give all of the songs a strong melodic foundation: the combination of a super-catchy chorus, and some unapologetically ear-grabbing arrangement tricks makes the swirling "The Middle" sound like the great lost freakbeat single of 1967. Nothing in
Great Northern's background suggests they were capable of something as impressive as that. ~ Stewart Mason