Surrounded - Safety in Numbers (Deep Elm, 2003)

Surrounded
Safety in Numbers
Deep Elm
2003

Rating: 8.5 baby dragons out of 10
 
I was not expecting anything like this Surrounded album to ever come out on Deep Elm – lush, mellow pop music with terrific production and an extremely interesting sound. And while I’m congratulating Deep Elm on a fine release, let’s also take note that this is yet another amazing Swedish band to hit these shores - they churn out talented musicians quicker than Ikea can produce crappy furniture. This time around, instead of producing the next great garage rock or death metal band, we have a collection of folks who look to Sparklehorse for inspiration (and the world could stand for more people to do this as far as I’m concerned). There are hints of indie-ambient noise ala The Appleseed Cast’s “Low Level Owl” discs as well (another great pair of records worth checking out if you haven’t). This is a damn fine debut album, and at the current rate the Swedes are going to take over the American music scene before we know it. Deep Elm proves yet again that you can’t judge a labels current output by their previous endeavors.