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With all the reverbed drenched, sun-kissed “jams” and grainy, youtube clip videos floating around the interwebs, you can’t read a review that doesn’t force teenage love down your throat. We get it; Beach Boys pop songs are ear pleasing and remind us how great it felt to find your Summer crush, but just because a band prefers muddled, surfy melodies doesn’t make every song a return to the Blue fucking Lagoon.
Personally, I don’t want to revisit the awkward years of adolescences and even though it’s become increasingly less cool, the thing I pine for is straight up guitar records with riffs and huge choruses. You want nostalgia? Why not remember when songs used to have melody, bridges and choruses. Or how about when you could actually make out those girl obsessed and sci-fi laced lyrics.
Enter Ian Kehoe, a.k.a, Marine Dreams. His self-titled debut is compact, efficient and effective. Ten-songs and just over a half an hour of solid guitar work, emotion, and harmonies. Kehoe’s routinely builds riffs that seems simple on the surface, but connect with the listener instantly without tricks or studio magic. He channels Petty and Young and offers comforting, muscular chugs that explode when he gets to the chorus. The vocals aren’t hidden in the mix to mask imperfections, in fact Kehoe’s celebrates the rough edges. He openly strains to hit notes and sometimes threatens to fall out of tune, but Ian’s voice fits his chords like a tailored suit.
Marine Dreams is everything I love about guitar music. Kehoe’s ability to find melody from the most inauspicious chords and captivate me with premature endings and new beginnings is a lost skill. If there’s anything to be nostalgic about, it’s that in an age of seemingly endless musical access, song writers like Kehoe are becoming almost impossible to find. - Herohill
Attack in Black appears to have ceased to be a going concern, at least for now, but that’s certainly not due to a lack of productivity on the part of its scattered membership. Daniel Romano has pumped out two solo albums and a fine little folk record with Daniel, Fred and Julie, Spencer Burton just got Grey Kingdom up and running and now bassist Ian Kehoe – newly decamped from his hometown of Welland to Sackville – has stepped to the fore with a smashing slab of bright, brainy guitar-pop under the moniker Marine Dreams.
It’s nothing flashy, just 10 concise, crisply tuneful jams that go exactly where they should in subtly ingenious ways, shot through with a keen sense of wit and an audible appreciation for classic songcraft. Some pretty hot guitar playing, too, although it’s not all up-in-your-face about it. You’ll think fondly of Big Star, Guided by Voices, the Buzzcocks, the Who and Tom Petty hangin’ with Jeff Lynne while it’s playing and feel very good indeed about hitting “repeat” when the half-hour is up. Personally, I can’t get enough of “New Decade,” which manages to do something new (again) with the chord progression from “Sweet Jane.” Oh, and the stellar cast of supporting players includes ex-Constantine Steve Lambke, Shotgun Jimmie and all of Kehoe’s old mates from Attack in Black.
Surely you’re sold by now, no? One tasty track here, a video for Marine Dreams' "theme" song below. - The Toronto Star
Former Attack in Black bassist Ian Kehoe is the latest musician to leave behind a small Ontario town – Welland, in his case – for the even smaller Sackville, New Brunswick, the site of Sappyfest, and near Moncton, hometown of noise-pop pioneers Eric’s Trip. Kehoe, performing under the name Marine Dreams, plays that loosely delivered but sharply considered indie rock common to the region, the kind that blends ample experience and melodic flair with let’s-do-this DIY attitude. Think Joel Plaskett. Think Shotgun Jimmie (who left Ajax for Sackville).
The self-titled debut sounds like it was recorded over a couple of days in somebody’s home studio, which it was (in AIB bandmates Daniel and Ian Romano’s Welland studio, with contributions from all the AIB members and Baby Eagle’s Steve Lambke and Hunters and Anglers). It’s shabby, lean and spirited, with uptempo fuzz guitars and stick-in-your-head melodies. The songs rarely go where you expect them to, and frequently charm.
Top track: New Decade
- Now Weekly Toronto
Ian Kehoe (Marine Dreams, Attack in Black) comes across as a young Leonard Cohen sitting in a bathtub typing out his lyrics. You find it all in his words, biographical honesty feathered with poetic embellishment sifted through narratives that leave the listener seeing as much as they are hearing. Marine Dreams feels like an underdog winning, like an art student’s summer freedom, like a mature ferris-wheel ride, but mostly like a holy punctual calling card.
The soul of rock and roll feels revived and interested in the rhythm section with Kehoe’s timbre splintered voice peaking out with pop melodies. Riffs that would have been abused by impatient minds are brilliantly used as punctuation and flare. Taste, wisdom, and imagination are in the design of every track while being executed in an indie tone without feeling stale. It’s like Bryan Adams meets Smog in it’s ability to be poppy rock with the tasteful mind of an outsider writer. There is melody and depth and blurry perfection.
A quiet and pretty song “No face” is the midpoint of an otherwise rumbly indie pop record that sets a standard for subtle innovations. “Sudden Dark Truths” and “Yet to see the sun” are straight ahead adventures with bittersweet notes on upbeat drums. Marine Dreams arrives late in the year but shouldn’t be missed on any “best albums of 2011” lists. - Southern Souls
Discography
Marine Dreams - S/T - November 2011
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Bio
In every musical scene, there are the faces, the few names that become well known. Yet just as importantly, and less visibly, are the background figures that knit together disparate scenes and musical movements, playing pivotal roles in less glamourous positions. In the Canadian music scene, Ian Kehoe is one of those people. From early years in a string of hardcore bands to his work in cult punk band Keep It Up to his collaboration with Fucked Up front man Damian Abraham in The Bergenfield Four, Kehoe was a veteran by the time he joined Attack In Black as bassist and, intriguingly, primary lyricist. When that band became one of the major Canadian success stories of the last ten years, Kehoe and his compatriots helped to broaden the taste of leagues of punk rockers as they rapidly expanded their sound into pop, folk, and country. Meanwhile, Kehoe has become a go to man on drums, bass, and guitar for artists such as Shotgun Jimmie, Baby Eagle, The Weather Station, and Grey Kingdom.
Now, with the release of the S/T Marine Dreams debut record on You've Changed Records, the increasingly influential label Kehoe helped to found, he is stepping into the role of frontman. His songwriting on the record is mature, sophisticated, and concise. His songs are crisp, catchy, and powerful, and yet repeat listens reveal intricacies of structure and melody. It's guitar music, but with a strikingly poetic sensibility, and a wealth of subtle emotional shadings. But most importantly, the record reveals an artist rooted in the most classic forms of songwriting.
Released in November 2011, the record received acclaim in the Toronto Star, Exclaim, Now Weekly, and countless blogs. On college radio, the record charted in the top 40 nationwide for several months. Kehoe has toured with his band and played notable festivals such as Sappyfest, Wolfe Island, and NXNE. Yet the most exciting times for Marine Dreams are ahead. Currently at work on not one but three new records, Kehoe is clearly at the beginning of an undeniable body of work. Those lucky enough to be privy to the talents of the softspoken songwriter eagerly await musical innovations to come.
-Steven Lambke (The Constantines)
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