“No Direction“
from the album Secrets Are Sinister
2008
iTunes
It is of no surprise that New York foursome Longwave have drawn comparisons to the likes of Radiohead and The Strokes: the band, especially on “No Direction,“ manages to create the sort of epic, almost daunting spaces of the former while infusing them with the more delicate pop sensibilities of latter. Longwave was formed in 1999 by Rochester native Steve Schlitz, and after self-releasing their first album, Endsongs, they were signed to RCA for two more albums and worked with The Flaming Lips’ producer Dave Fridmann. Over the years, the band has swelled and shrank in size (Schlitz and bassist Shannon Ferguson are the only original members left), and they now find themselves releasing their fourth album, Secrets Are Sinister, with the creative freedom of independent label Original Signal Recordings.
To “No Direction” (also produced by Fridmann) they arrive as a lean foursome and inject their sound with a speed and all-around driving force that belies the song’s title. While the machine-gun rattle of drummer Jason Molina pushes the song forward, Schlitz and company are free to create a wall of guitar and sonic fuzz suited to the airy confines of an arena rock stage. What Longwave does better than many of their contemporaries, though, is balance this sort of epic sound with quiet, almost eerie moments when the guitar dwindles to a whimper and all that is left is Schlitz’s grandiose voice and the barely audible warble of the keyboard.