Uninspiring Indie
American indie innovators The Envy Corps meet Coldplay and an upbeat Radiohead somewhere in a scrambled mass of shining harmonies and bright beats; it's very much sweetness and light musically, with slightly sneering vocals pirouetting over the top. Singing about Sylvia Plath does not make your inspired; it may show that you have fine inspirations and a fair amount of education, but such name-dropping alone can be a dangerous risk to take. 'Sylvia (The Beekeeper)' could either be taken as a giddy ode to the great poet, perhaps inspiring kids to go out and read the writer's canon, or a slightly kitsch indie tune that shamelessly seeks to present itself with more depth because it refers to a sensational icon. Either way, it's a spiralling nugget of pretty pop with swirling synths and twee riffs.
'Keys To A Good Living' sees vocals that even take on Chris Martin's lullaby intonation as gentle ripples spread out in the background, soothing the listener before a choral backing breaks in. It's a very middle-class tune of salvation, affirming that "The keys to good living are found in the doors of saints"; one would hope that the key to anything as important would be sung about with far more grit and exaltation than Envy Corps risk here. 'Rooftop' sounds a little more mournful, "I need a rooftop that I can look from and jump off", which the singer's slightly nasal vocals beginning to resemble those of Thom Yorke all the more; it's a pretty guitar ballad but offers nothing new or original. Elsewhere there are upbeat, skipping tunes like, 'Story Problem', which just resonates typical mellow indie sentiments with plenty of handclapping and uplifting vocals.
The grandiose mix of instruments and melange of melodies strives to achieve epic status, however if you find The Envy Corps atmospheric, it may be because you're too young to have seen the kind of psychedelic groups that really overwhelm the listener. The Envy Corps' music is essentially a glorification of the shoegazing singer-songwriter fare in the same vein as groups like Manchester Orchestra and no doubt they'll be played in bedrooms across the country as a quick emotional fix, but offer little long-term joy.