Album Review: Sianvar – Stay Lost

Dissonance August 3, 2016 223 Comments 350 views 0 likes

Fans like to associate themselves to the respective artists they listen to and in doing so, they become not only fans of the bands or acts themselves, but fans of each individual they feel a connection with. This attachment truly shines when those same well-respected artists decide to team up and create a supergroup — an exceptionally successful group in music whose members have already had successful careers as part of other groups or on their own. With supergroups however, you have two sides to the coin; on one side fans have extremely high expectations and this ideology that the sound will be “perfection” and on the other, the band has to find a way to intermix each individual’s exceptionalism into a non-disjointed, overall cohesive sound. That is what Sianvar face with their debut album Stay Lost; finding a way to strike that perfect balance of individualism and cohesion to create a standout record in their genre.

[tw-toggle title=”About Sianvar”]
Genre: Post Hardcore, Experimental Rock
Release: August 5, 2016
Label: Blue Swan Records
Connect: Facebook | Twitter
Purchase: MerchNow | Bandcamp
[/tw-toggle]

Looking at Stay Lost, it is clearly a delicately and intricately crafted piece of musicianship. From the very beginning to the very end, the notable essence of what makes ‘’swancore‘’ unique to itself stands out as the tracks under the aforementioned moniker carry a very similar theme. There’s the expected constant ebbs and flows sonically as the music builds through solemn, atmospherically driven set-pieces before journeying into intricate, experimental pieces of musicianship full of pounding drums, soaring vocals and complex guitar work. This then becomes the baseline for what Sianvar presents on Stay Lost. On the other end of that spectrum, if you were to pick apart the record on a track by track basis, there would be flaws found in the overall flow and longevity of Stay Lost as halfway through it feels as if it becomes a slog to get through. This leads to one of the few sore points found within this project itself; and that is the lack of diversity and uniqueness on a singular track level, no matter how many different guitar patterns and intricate riffs are utilized. While the album still has it’s shining moments in songs like ‘’Psychosis Succumbing’’ and ‘’1100 Days’’, it also has songs that just feel like filler like ‘’’BedRoots’’ and ‘’Coordinate Love’’. With how much of the album feels like an ordeal to listen fully, the first thing that comes to mind is: should Stay Lost have been a more shorter, precise EP instead of a full length album?

Sianvar – Omniphobia (Official Music Video)

Sianvar – Omniphobia (Official Music Video) Order Stay Lost: PHYSICAL: http://sianvar.merchnow.com/ DIGITAL: http://sianvar.bandcamp.com/ Follow Sianvar: https://www.facebook.com/Sianvar/ https://twitter.com/SianvarOfficial https://www.instagram.com/sianvarofficial/ Video by: Co-Directors: Geoff Davis and Steve Pedulla Cinematography: Steve Pedulla Edited by: Steve Pedulla

With their debut album, the band doesn’t break new ground. Instead, they play it safe and do what they do best in their respective bands; which makes the overall product feel like another uninspired entry into the ‘’swancore’’ genre. While the band’s talent shows in strides, overall, Stay Lost is just not the best showing of what the band can do.