Machine People

Review of the Books, Boxes & Video Games EP by Skief Promotions
It’s fair to say about Rising Tide that there is a lot of hype going around at the moment about the Brighton-based quartet. Comprising of Martyn, Adam, Emma and Frankie, their impressive live shows, unique style and strong musicianship has brought them remarkable progress in recent months: a spot at the Great Escape festival and a headline gig at the 300-capacity Haunt in Brighton are just around the corner, not bad for a band who formed less than 2 years ago. So does their new EP match the expectations? The answer to that is a pretty resounding yes.
Opener “The Lie” begins with a riff that could’ve come straight from Biffy Clyro’s early back catalogue, before transforming into a bass/guitar duel that sounds like Rage Against the Machine and Led Zeppelin fighting to the death. Meanwhile, the title track “Books, Boxes and Video Games” plays like a very English version of the Foo Fighters’ more mellow moments, with Martyn Wilson’s almost operatic voice hitting high and low notes with ease and punctuating each pointed note superbly.

Everyone who’s been to Rising Tide’s live shows knows “Painkiller” and “Everything Has Changed”, and it’s testament to the impressive work of Jez Mumford and co at Sound Central Studios that these two tracks sound absolutely brilliant on the new EP. “Painkiller” is sped up, and just sounds so much angrier than before, but the real gem in the crown is the latter track “Everything Has Changed”. Mixing Kings of Leon’s anthemic walls of sound, Arcade Fire’s innocent melodies, and Matt Bellamy’s grandiose falsetto. The reworked song sounds – without wanting to get too carried away- gargantuan. Massive. Ginormous. However you want to put it the track would not sound out of place blasting out of the PA at Reading and Leeds, and it’s a credit to all parties concerned that this great song is well and truly maximised to its true potential here.

And finally, just when you need to recover from the brutal beauty of the last track, “I Wish” comes along like a calm massage. Martyn’s voice again rises to the occasion, interchanging between soothing indie croons and desperate Grohl-esque yells. Again, the influences of Biffy Clyro and early Foo Fighers become abundantly clear once the track roars to its finale, and ensures that “Books, Boxes and Video Games” comes to a well-rounded and triumphant conclusion.

So it might not cover ground in quite the breakneck pace of some of their earlier material, but by expanding their dynamics and improving their range of styles, Rising Tide have not just established themselves as one of the most vital bands in the South East right now, but quite possibly amongst the general UK indie and rock scene today. An immensely accomplished EP.


Review of the song ‘Everything Has Changed’ by ‘Wry’s Dry Eye’
Rising Tide are an Interesting prospect, with a stripped back approach to the kind of rock music that flirts with potential for mainstream success, while retaining enough alternative darkness & quirkiness to stand out in a legion of second rate MGMT clones & infuriatingly false irony. This band oozes sincerity, With Martyn Wilson’s Thespianically (that‘s right, it needs a new word!) theatrical vocal style bringing this rallying call to startling, thrillingly melodramatic life.
The use of dynamics to enhance the power of the songs irresistible hook is astonishingly confident, The band lock together with perfectly placed parts in a manner that not even the most hyperbolic of alliterative phrases can adequately describe, basically, it’s bloody good!

I get overly excited about things I like, it’s fair to say, but believe me when I say SEE THESE GUYS NOW!!! No one knows what could happen in the future, but I’m sure Rising Tide will occupy a special place in it.


Review of the song ‘Everything Has Changed’ by SQ Magazine
No one sane has ever described drowning as a good thing, but with such a complex arrangement of sounds throughout, and even a little pinch of Radiohead to be found within, it’s forgivable to want to be swept away by Rising Tide. “Everything Has Changed” is full of drive and replayability with distinctive, strong vocals, moments of knockout guitar, dancing keyboard, and well paced drums. Rising Tide state their influences as being bands like Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters. It’s easy to see how those bands factor into their sound, with the Montreal indie rockers adding an eccentric flair and Grohl’s boys bringing their anthemic touch.

Review of the song ‘Everything Has Changed’ by Indie Music Reviewer (USA)
“Everything Has Changed” is the new well-done, loud and layered single from Rising Tide. It shows strong influence from bands such as The Arcade Fire and The Veils and manages to offer something new and original to the table. The instruments are mixed perfectly both in performance and production and the tones are awesome.It is pretty straightforward in a lot of ways; it stays in a 4/4 time signature and follows the typical radio friendly verse-chorus-verse formula but the riffs are all tasteful and nice enough that it works well for the song. All in all this is a great single; accessible and to the point but open-ended enough to leave you excited for more.

Live review from November 2011, The Prince Albert, by Brighton Unsigned Magazine
Four piece rock band Rising Tide showcased their brand new single with a launch gig at the Prince Albert in November. The band put their all in to an energetic and lively performance so much so that they even had their vocalist short of breath between tunes. Their music, which could be generally categorised as alternative rock contains elements of 80s/early 90s rock layered with more modern sounds to create a simple yet versatile style.
Their lead singer has a beautiful, strong voice with a great range and switches effortlessly between deep bass notes and falsettos, comparable in sound to Rufus Wainwright.

Their drummer deserves a mention, as he battled with the breeze from a nearby fan that attacked his mop of curly hair causing him to drum blind for most of the gig (or so it seemed). Drummers can sometimes risk bleeding in to the background if they provide predictable rhythms for their songs. However, this drummer avoided predictability by contributing original and creative drum patterns to the tunes. He also has an amazing name (you will have to look them up to find it out). The only female member of the band, refreshingly was not their bassist. Instead she provided lead guitar and keyboard. There was a prominent sound coming from the bassist also adding nicely to their style.

The band are not afraid to have somewhat lengthy instrumental interludes between vocals, which gives you a chance to check out their technique. Their set featured a varied range of upbeat and mellow tunes. One of their more down-temp songs, which as yet has no official name but the band refers to as “Old Piano Song”, really stood out as a beautiful piece and is deserving of an official title. Some of the more upbeat and catchy tunes played were “Burn It Down”, “Painkiller” and the star of the night, the powerful new single “Everything Has Changed”.


Dublin Castle Review by 22nd January 2012
Rising Tide- keys n guitars dancing together in a post punk cum futurist manner. Maximo Park meets Killers type indie rock with enuff edge. They rock.













- Various

Big Fish, by Rising Tide. If there’s a perfect driving track on this record, this is it. The essence of the arrangement spells out the feeling of circular motion, where each phrase feels like another rotation and each section is another mile towards our destination. Along the way, we’ll end up in crappy dives chatting to strange locals, as the bass guitar and drum groove on the toms is the only support the vocal gets, and the motivation to continue suddenly lapses. Then, with a rebel yell, the song throws its fist in the air, screaming desperate motivation to the weary crusaders.

While you listen, you can hear the emotions of the wronged coming out. The whole thing sounds like the perfect expressions of the disappointed, unimpressed by another’s pretensions.

The slight dramatic tension on the vocal (about 2:40) bends the melody away from the rut of authenticity it occupies and creates some really interesting bars, just when it becomes almost predictable. The song would work without, but is much better off with them. Well performed and turbulent, there’s a gritty quality to the whole record that stops the more repetitive sections from outstaying their welcome.

Everyone responds to different aspects of music. Some of us are drawn to a song by its musical aspects. These could be novel instrumentation, experimental harmony or maybe a well-realised performance encapsulating a genre. Other people immediately latch onto lyrics, or the subcultural aspects of a band’s style and antics, and these last two often compliment one another. - Audible Thoughts