WATCHING TIDES • We’ve Been So Close, Yet So Alone • LP

This Charming Man Records

What an incredible record the new Watching Tides album is!
It’s unbelievably intense and so precisely executed that it’s hard to believe this is the work of just a trio. But let’s start from the beginning: about a year ago, I traded for the band’s first 12" with a friend and found it refreshingly good—granted, my last real “emo” phase was more than a decade ago. So, Watching Tides instantly grabbed my long-dormant attention for the genre.

Back in the late ’90s, I listened to quite a bit of Midwest stuff—the rougher, more angular kind from the Crank! and Caulfield era. Watching Tides, however, are more reminiscent of the 2000s wave of U.S. emo. Their sound features the atmospheric guitars of early Pianos Become The Teeth, combined with a sharper edge—technically not too far from The Casket Lottery or Moving Mountains. There are also echoes of the more recent grunge/emo crossover era—the melodic vocal parts will appeal to fans of Tigers Jaw or Basement (but nowhere near as cheesy as the latter).

And as if that weren’t enough name-dropping already, imagine all that blended with punkier elements in the vein of Title Fight or Touché Amoré.

Lyrically, the record deals with coming to terms with home, old friendships, and the emotional baggage we all drag along from the past.