Great Northern

Remind Me Where The Light Is (Eenie Meenie)

By Kirsten Kilponen
Published: March 3rd, 2009 | 9:00am

Marching band percussion, intense keyboards, and fervent vocals are what make up Los Angeles band Great Northern. Their musical talent and mammoth energy at shows (like last year’s SXSW) illustrate to crowds what a live performance ought to look like. Their album Remind Me Where the Light Is, however, is where all that ends and overproduced, over-stylized music begins.

One has to give Great Northern the benefit of the doubt when popping in their sophomore album for the first time. The opening track, “Story” — which is representative of their entire album — is off-putting with its aggrandized lead guitar, overly layered, echoing vocals, and heavy build up to what sounds like spaceships landing somewhere in the background.

Once the strings and synthesized keys take a backseat, though, the band’s instrumental strengths start to show through. Tracks like “Snakes” and “Stop” feature pounding piano playing backed by boisterous beats from thumping percussion, comparable to the sound and liveliness of bucket drumming. The lyrics are often inaudible, but that almost doesn’t matter in light of the breathy singing of Rachel Stolte and the passionate backup “oooos” and “ooohs” of Solon Bixler that give the songs an intimate, “singing to you right after a heated break-up” kind of feel.

Underneath the overshadowing overproduction done by Michael Patterson (who is accustomed to working with the likes of Puff Daddy) lays genuine talent and hand-clapping, heart-grabbing music. Essentially, the experience of trying to listen to Remind Me Where the Light is is comparable to that of attempting to eat an overcooked pot roast, naively trying to scrape away the gooey, black crust that covers something that was once probably pretty damn delicious.

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