Although fairly emotive, Rec Center’s debut album, Tin Year, will affect others differently. For some, they may find themselves with a box of tissues in their hand while listening to songs such as “Stages” and “Little Birds,” yet some may find chunks of themselves in the collection of tracks on the release. Rec Center’s use of the boy/girl dynamic harmonies is something that, although many bands do this, helps them stand out. Susie Ulrey’s soft and sweet voice paired up next to Michael Waksman’s soft but gruff vocals creates a full sound. Overall, the band captures the vibe of what feels like the aftermath of a rainstorm on a summer’s day. Although not all of their songs are melancholy in sound, take the poppy, surf rock jam, “Swimming,” for example. They each carry a fairly weighted motif depending how the listener decides to interpret them.
Rec Center also does a decent job of pushing forth a clean, romantic sound. Though the song itself isn’t romantic in the slightest, “No. 2” has wave like guitar tones that just sweep the listener off their feet. “Clumsy Guest” brings both Ulrey and Waksman’s voices together in a somewhat back-and-forth lyrical battle while the band’s signature mellowness remains static. Although their sound is relaxing, sometimes it seems as it may be too relaxing—it would’ve been nice if the band had some slightly more energetic songs on Tin Year. Besides that, the band’s debut disc is a pretty much flawless release.
In A Word: Fantastic
