The Most Serene Republic - Underwater Cinematographer (2005)

Genre- Indie Pop, Rock

The Most Serene Republic are based in Ontario, Canada. Underwater Cinematographer is their debut album on the Arts & Crafts label. The album features both male and female vocals, however only occasionally are they together. Adrian Jewitt tackles the male vocals with enthusiasm. Though it would be safe to say he is not the vocalist that Emma Ditchburn is. Musically, TMSR are straight ahead indie pop. However, some songs contain nice jazz piano elements as well as organ. There is also a good amount of electronic knob turning going on. This band sounds like they are relying to heavily on their influences. The album isn’t cohesive and seems kind forced. It’s almost like they made a conscious decision to sound like Stereolab on one song and like early 90’s Shoegaze on the next. With the exception of a few songs the album left me feeling kind of empty. The songs aren’t bad. They just didn’t do it for me. Not a bad first effort though. The exceptions are The Protagonist Suddenly Realizes What He Must Do In The Middle Of Downtown and also In Place, Empty Spaces.

Rating- 4/10