Sei Still

Sei Still

The mexican psych outfit make their official debut with an album that painfully lacks personality, as it is full of stale kraut cliches; Sei Still sound as if they were marking a checklist while recording each song.

Since last year, mexican kraut-psych outfit, Sei Still, had already been teasing the release of a debut LP, with a song that didn’t leave too much to the imagination when it came to their influences. The track was not necessarily bad, but there was some sort of hope that, by the time the album’s proper release, the band might have done some soul-searching, stumbling upon an epiphany which led them to come up with something that wasn’t absolute Hallogallo worship. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and Sei Still make their official debut with an album that painfully lacks personality, ridden by stale kraut cliches that sound as if the band were marking a checklist while writing the songs.

Now, this might seem off-topic, but in an effort to generate some revenue to keep this humble page going, we’re crossing over to the fine art of tour-guiding. On our first trip, we will walk you through a journey along the vast country of Krautclichëßberg (population: 10,000) so we can point out just how many of its over-visited and overcrowded landmarks we can recognize in Sei Still’s sound; nonetheless, before we set sail, here’s a brief -albeit important- legal disclaimer: the Densidad20.25 tour crew will not be held accountable for any lack of excitement resulting from this endeavor.

As we begin, if you could look to your right, you shall be able to see the Repetition Purely for Aesthetic Purposes Monument. This will be our first stop, as Sei Still pretty much live there, and this is the most prominent element in this LP. Each track marches towards the same direction, at the same pace, with no concern whatsoever for differentiating one from the other. Sure, the songs might not sound exactly alike, but this could very well be a single opus divided into seven pieces, each one as bland as the one that came before it; they just numbly carry on, without any sort of purpose other than to fill the record. “El Camino” has a promising start, with a cool bassline, but the band eventually ends up painting an all-too-familiar picture once they all start coming into position.

Moving on with our tour, we suggest that you get your cameras ready, as we pass the Brief Mumbled Lyrical Passage Drowned in Reverb and Delay Tower. While the music is mostly instrumental, songs like “El Camino”, “Fortuna” or “Televisión” feature Dead Skeletons -or Tajak, to keep it national- style vocals. There was a time in which the voice was used for its timbral qualities and texture, thus being approached as another instrument, but now -or at least here- it adds nothing other than stylistic pandering. The only song that steers away from this dynamic is “Blumenkriege” (yes, that’s german) which may feature the only highlight in the album, with the appearance of Mabe Fratti’s soft and melodic vocal delivery.

Now we are where most people in town converge: a very famous spot between Clockwork Basslines Street and Minimal Guitar Work Avenue known as The Average. This is where most bands get it right, and Sei Still is no exception. A lot of the basslines are good in their own right, and while the guitar work may not bring anything new or exciting, it at least works within the context of each song; both instruments are used in a very rhythmic fashion, with the guitar doubling as a texture provider along with the synths. Sei Still are a good, tight unit, but the isolated tracks for each instrument might have been a daunting task to listen to, as there’s not really anything that makes any of them stand out. It should be clear that I’m not talking about virtuosity, rather than personality.

We could keep going, as there are more landmarks to visit, but we’re seeing that some passengers are already getting anxious and want to get off the tour bus. It is safe to assume this first tour was a failure, but we warned your about the lack of excitement, so there are no refunds. I suspected this would happen if we only limited our scope to only one city; unfortunately, that’s the extent of Sei Still’s grasp. This LP is one-dimensional and lacks any unexpected twists or at least something that makes it stand out amidst a sea of similar projects.

I’ll just go right ahead and say it (once again): I love krautrock and psychedelic music just as any other trance-loving person out there, but if I’m not listening the classics, I don’t think is wrong to expect that the newer bands’ approach towards the genres to be more substantial, otherwise, they just end up absorbing every cliche possible, projecting nothing more than a forced and calculated aesthetic. To make things worse, it would seem that everyone is content on just blatantly ripping-off NEU! (“Televisión” even goes as far as to mention Düsseldorf, the duo’s hometown). God forbid they try to emulate Liebezeit’s drumming, Faust’s more complex take on krautrock or Gong or Taj-Mahal Travelers’ truly mind-expanding creativity.

This is why I’m weary upon approaching modern projects that have “kraut” and “psych” on their description, because, most of the time, they fail to deliver. In the best of cases, the result is just bland and inoffensive; in the worst cases, it is plain boring. Sei Still don’t quite hit the mark on any of those, instead being suspended in a perpetual gray area; they’re not bad, bland or boring, but this debut is just forgettable.

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