November 20–27, 1997

disc quicks|rock/pop

The Sundays

Static & Silence (DGC Records)

The Sundays have long been pegged for pop greatness, but their albums are few and far between. In fact, the London-based band's third album, Static & Silence, is their first full-length in five years.

However, it was worth the wait. On Static & Silence, the husband and wife team of David Gavurin (guitar) and Harriet Wheeler (vocals) has smartly chosen to take a more straightforward approach to their work than on past efforts. Yes, Gavurin's guitar playing is still sparkling, almost Smiths-inspired, and Wheeler's vocals are soaring and as hard to decipher as ever, yet there's a newfound sense of confidence. It's as if the band—which also includes drummer Patrick Hannan and Paul Brindley—is completely (and thankfully) unconcerned with the cookie-cutter approach to songwriting that's affected so much of Brit-pop today. The Sundays' lyrics have always had a rather serious slant and the songs on Static are no exception. Even the first single (and the band's first big U.S. hit), "Summertime," isn't quite as lighthearted as it sounds. Mingled amid punchy horns and crunching guitar riffs are tongue-in-cheek lines that define just how easy it is to confuse the complexities of real life with expectations of romantic bliss. Wheeler's voice—winsome, angelic, blatantly British—has never been better than on Static & Silence. There's an urgency laced throughout songs like "Leave This City" and "Cry," and a poignant sense of loss on the more tenderhearted tracks like "So Much" and "Homeward" (which might be the highlight of the record). You've got to hand it to Wheeler and Gavurin's songwriting skills: What other band could take a scientific experience like man's first moon walk and turn it into a magical, three-minute pop song fraught with human vulnerability?

-Nicole Pensiero