Stuyedeyed - BIRTH

Stuyedeyed

BIRTH
self-released; 2015

3.8 out of 5

By Courtney Ha

The new group Stuyedeyed is a four piece band with a head scratching name. Before you go crazy trying to interpret the meaning, I’ll decipher it for you: they are based out of a town called Bed Stuy in Brooklyn, New York which implies a clever play on words. Their band is composed of Nelson Antonio Espinal (vocals), Andrea Scanniello (Guitar/Organ/Vocals) Humberto Geñao (Bass) and Anders Edwards (drummer). Let's dive right in, blow out the candles and experience their debut album- BIRTH. 

BIRTH was created with the assistance of close friend and producer Duane Lauginiger over the course of a year. Espinal recruited his buddies and they worked out the kinks and made an impressive album. BIRTH is filled with dark undertones and shoegaze influenced aesthetics but also manages to feel full of emotion. The vocals (as well as their guitars) are layered with a thick amount of hall reverb. At times this caused me to question the lyrics but that seems to be the norm for this production style.

For the most part these are songs you can dance to in an Ian Curtis kind of way. Their lyrics are surrounded by  atmospheric guitars and rhythmically complex drum beats. The majority of the tunes here are covert pop songs that are quite catchy and infectious. However, it takes a bit of patience to get there. The first song "Sun"  is sparse and barely has a skeleton to support it. It's not bad but a little misleading as to what else you can expect.

Some of the tracks are exceptional such as "Miscarry On". The music is good but the vocal work here is great. It's dynamic, infectious and original. Great Stuff. "Can't Get It Right", "Smut" and "Old Money" are all tracks you shouldn't skip over .One of the tracks “Cool, How To Be” is advice from the lead singer's friend about fitting in. Nelson Antonio Espinal sings “Settle down into your own, you're only cool when you're alone".

Stuyedeyed are definitely creative and have some exceptional songs under the coats of reverb.  They are off to a great start but think that slightly better production would have benefitted BIRTH. Overall, the band shows a lot of promise and look forward to hearing more from the band.

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