Dirty Heads - Cabin By the Sea Album Review

Alternative rockers/reggae band The Dirty Heads release their anticipated newest album Cabin By the Sea amid high expectations. The album itself was released on June 19th 2012. The American band are known for their relaxing, experimental, feel good style of music, and this album looks set to not disappoint in that department. That doesn't mean it's good, though, that remains to be seen.

It's an interesting sounding album, to say the least. The acoustic guitar is permeated by sounds that would ordinarily sound out of place, such as the sound of seagulls in the background or the sound of waves crashing on a short. In some places, it's just the sound of people talking in the background. In other words; natural sounds that aren't exactly music, but seem to work for the song in question. The great thing about Cabin By the Sea is that it's relaxing. Smile inducing. Reggae music that the ordinary listener can listen to without getting irritated after a while. The random sounds actually fit in rather well, and are an element that's becoming more and more common in music these days. This album would be a perfect soundtrack to a holiday.

The music itself is well crafted. The vocals are oddly relaxing, not too harsh on the ears and sitting just over the music very well. The music - there's a lot to say about it. There's different instruments on most of the tracks, but they all work very well, are all recorded very well, and all fit to serve their purpose, so there's not really much else to say. The Dirty Heads are clearly extremely talented musicians that know exactly what they're doing and how to use instruments (as well as ambient noise) to proper effect.

Problems - few. Perhaps that this style of music is an acquired taste, that or it will take some getting used to if a listener isn't into this kind of music. There's something for everyone to love on Cabin By the Sea, though, and nothing that anyone should particularly dislike about this music.

Overall, then, a tremendously talented and extraordinarily relaxing album. Cabin By the Sea has a bit of everything, and clearly took a huge amount of time, effort and musical talent to make. It's a shame that this kind of music never seems to reach the mainstream and reach a wide audience, for whatever reason, but if it did, these guys would be right at the top of the charts. Brilliant.

Sam Saunders