Reviews

A mix of instrumental post-hardcore and furious emo rocking both define this album and put A Burning water, Santa Cruz, CA’s own four piece rock army beyond definition. We Can See The Sky From Here is the album that would have been made if members of Sigur Ros and Refused moved from Iceland and Sweden respectively to sunny California and found themselves in the midst of the screamo revolution. Harsh screams give way to melodic screams, over Glassjaw-like heaviness. Then all of a sudden: airy, wispy, ambient drift. A Burning Water can cause some serious aural whiplash sometimes, and their best moments come when both styles exist simultaneously, as on track three the hard but melodic, simple yet cunning, Missiles and Markers.
 
Although at times exuding a more traditional rock sound, A Burning Water usually sticks to forays into the experimental, with the exceptions of the lyrics.  All too often, the lyrics remain mired in the trite emo conventionalities they seek to transcend.  However, in a weird paradox the catchiest song is This Is A Test, a song that bounces from cliché to cliché like a pinball or a drunk on a row of bars.  In a sequence of seconds, ABW manages to jam in the words “romance,” “failed,” “heart,” “gun,” “bleed,” and “regret” but then they bring out the bounciest pop chorus in months and all is forgiven.
 
WCSTSFH is a solid release from an up and coming band, a well produced if sometimes overindulgent album.  At times lulling, as if to sleep, other times shaking, as if to wake, A Burning Water makes sure that at no time will their music not have an effect.  The twinkling guitars and sometimes poppy singing can sound borrowed straight from a mid-90’s emo band, but their inventiveness and exuberance keeps We Can See The Sky From Here from fading into the distance.