ALL BURN

US band THE RECEIVER was formed ten years ago by brothers Casey and Jesse Cooper, and they released their debut album "Decades" the following year, followed by "Length of Arms" in 2009. Following an active period were the band focused more on live performances and other non-recording matters, they returned with their third album "All Burn" in 2015, released through UK label Kscope.

The band's style of music appears to most commonly be placed inside the dream pop segment, and there's undeniably an element of the dream-laden in their material. While that may well be a fairly appropriate description of their music, personally I think synth pop might be just as warranted as far as general style is concerned. The synths does dominate, and the music is undeniably closer to pop than it is to rock music.

A key feature throughout this album is a mood and atmosphere that appears to have a central foundation in feelings of longing and melancholy, explored as from a distance and with a certain emotional chill to it. Music I'd describe as distanced and slightly detached, where the emotions comes across as frail and delicate. Music of the kind that I'd imagine would appeal to the intellectual introvert if you like, as the emotions are at a distance and shy away from being overblown, dramatic and overpowering.

The lead vocals lead the way here, in a manner that might remind of Radiohead's Thom Yorke on an extremely controlled day: Frail, brittle, light toned but unlike the aforementioned Yorke without any of the dramatic, emotional touches that gives his voice such an edge. Dream-laden if you like, and to draw the Radiohead comparison further I'd point to their song Karma Police as one fairly similar in mood and atmosphere to the landscapes explored by The Receiver.

Musically we're dealing with a somewhat different entity altogether though. Careful, gliding keyboard textures and surging synthesizer effects dominated, with steady and sometimes vibrant basslines in support and steady ongoing drum patterns. The piano comes in occasionally to good effect, more often than not to add an additional delicate touch to the proceedings. These elements are combined in different manners of course, from slow, dream-laden melancholic affairs that resides straight in the heartland of dream pop to more vibrant, energetic affairs that gave me some associations to old synth pop band Erasure and their monster hit Chorus from some years back. I kind of guess that the brothers Cooper have some interests in music a wee bit beyond the fields of dream pop and synth pop though, as there were some details occasionally applied here and there that might have been borrowed from both Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, and some of the more richly layered arrangements does indicate that this is a band with a musical taste for material of a more sophisticated nature as well.

Sporting impeccable mix and production, The Receiver's third album "All Burn" comes across as a good album to investigate for those with an interest in careful, dream-laden synth pop, as well as a creation that should hit home with the greater majority of people that has an interest in artists described as dream pop. A well made production all in all, fairly sophisticated at times too, and a CD I would imagine to have a fairly broad appeal if given that rare opportunity called mainstream FM radio play.