The Box Tiger - Set Fire (2013)
The first time I heard The Box Tiger was about a month ago at The Drake Hotel, where they were playing an opening set for one of my favourite artists, Laura Stevenson & the Cans. Despite being minus one band member that night, I was won over by their instantly-gratifying melodicism and well-practiced, self-confident sound. I’m happy to report that their new full-length record Set Fire retains these elements admirably, creating a really solid little alternative rock album in the process.
Admittedly, The Box Tiger are not the kind of band that are going to wow you with ingenuity. They’re a four-piece with the standard guitar/guitar+vocals/bass/drums setup, and their sound is one of pretty safe, relatively dark pop/rock the likes of which could easily be heard on your local modern rock station. Indeed, at times their mainstream-friendly sound threatens to swallow them whole into the belly of radio-rock irrelevance, but they manage to just toe the line between mass media music and hipster cred. They do this in a few ways; first is their defining characteristic, the vocal stylings of Sonia Sturino, who has a meaty voice reminiscent of Leslie Feist but with a bit more “bite”, suggesting a history of singing in punk bands before this project. But what holds it all together is a quiet confidence in their own songwriting and a feeling of being completely genuine in their stadium rock aspirations.
Yes, the songs are simple, structured in such a way as to produce maximum earworminess. Yes, the choruses are big, with loud distorted guitars chugging away. Yes, there are one or two obligatory acoustic songs. And yes, their overall sound is fairly typical. But none of this seems fake, phony, or like a cynical cashgrab; it’s merely the type of music that happens to come out of this band. It may be over-the-top in some ways, but there is a very personal nature to the whole affair, a sense of weight that keeps it all grounded. Besides, the songs are so stick-in-your-head-after-the-first-listen catchy that it’s hard to stay mad at them.
There are people out there who would scoff at a band like this, as if having a radio-ready sound is automatically a negative thing. Me? I don’t think it’s a crime to stick to a basic template and do it well. The Box Tiger seem to agree.
DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ALBUM!