Posted on: July 9, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Bitter Bitter Weeks – Peace is Burning / 2007 High Two / 10 Tracks /http://www.minerstreet.com/bbw / http://www.hightwo.com /

The Bitter Bitter Weeks sound a lot like The La’s during the first track to their “Peace Is Burning”, “Once and for all”. This means that the vocals are the dreamiest part of the band even as the instrumentation provide a little more tangible thing for these vocals to latch onto. The track is strong in its’ own right, but it does not represent a hit for the Bitter Bitter Weeks. The second track on this disc is “Writing Letter”, and the slightly more driven instrumentation pushes the lead vocals to something a little more strong than was the case during “Once and for all”.

Another strength of this band comes in the bass sound present during “Writing letters”, which provides a much needed deep end to the composition. Still, it seems like the band is gathering momentum. The act is not where they need to be to rocket up the charts, but the first few tracks are a good way to start. “Danger in the halls” goes back to the slower style of “Once and for all”, but progressives nicely as the band moves towards the chorus. The inclusion of a second set of vocals is nice, and provides a counterpoint for the first set of vocals to work off of. The track is compelling, but is still showing the band gripping into the earth rather than hurtling towards to the top of the pops.

“Lo-res” keeps with the slower style but is stronger than either “once and for all” and “Danger in the halls” due to the fact that the vocals have a little more gravity than they did on either of the prior tracks and that there seems to be a little bit of a country influence to the track, something that further adds to this grave sound. The Bitter Bitter Weeks are a solid act, as evidenced by their work on the entirety of “Peace is Burning”. It seems like the band does not completely click throughout this album. I have no doubt that they will click in a future recording, but this represents the first step forward by the act. Check out their next album and hopefully they will be able to make an album that has standout tracks along with the solid album that they have here in “Peace in Burning”. Give it a go if you like dreamy pop, but give the band a pass for a few years if you don’t.

Top Tracks: Terrified, Hanna

Rating: 5.2/10

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