Preserve the Sound - "Writ in Water"

A lot of Preserve the Sound’s music is dated. Wait… that term, “dated,” typically carries a negative connotation, I know. Preserve the Sound’s music brings me back to 1999, the year I graduated high school a meathead metal fan and matriculated to University of Texas, where I discovered hipster hangouts and bands like The Promise Ring, The Get-up Kids, Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate. Knapsack, The Casket Lottery, American Football and Death Cab For Cutie – for most males my age, these bands should ring a bell. They sang the Diary of my life, a Photo Album I referred to when the smoke left things hazy and I struggled to find Something To Write Home About feeling the EndSerenading me.

Hailing from Austin TX, Preserve the Sound mark their independent debut with Writ in Water, a record that explicitly makes reference to just about all of the above mentioned bands over the course of twelve comfortable cuts.

A “Prelude” sets the tempo for Writ in Water, quite literally. Slow moving like an October morning, Water is just a few degrees short of freezing, slow enough to numb us from distraction without freezing the blood cold.

“Dark Horse Candidate” and “Maze of Highways” are strong songs introducing Preserve the Sound to the world in unbeatable fashion. Lead singer Kevin Stutz tends to hold out syllables for several beats, akin to the droning and oh-so-emo vocals of Chris Simpson (Mineral, The Gloria Record). Stutz brings a strong voice to the record and tasteful (but bordering on overdone) post-production on those vocals give the record a full, atmospheric feel.

Acoustic interludes help piece the album together. It’s hard to tell whether these are incomplete songs included in haste or if they are purposefully placed mood pieces. “Saved” is the first, an unsettling minute of melodrama with confessions that “I am evil and I must be saved / from temptation / it is surrounding me / and I need direction.” “Richmond Station” follows later, with more thickly layered vocals and plenty of wavey atmospherics. Despite missing the rhythm section of bassist Marcos Lujan and drummer Jayson Cruz, this tune may be the best cut on Writ in Water.

The title track follows, with little in the way of vocals and Cruz’s most aggressive and impressive drumming. As the centerpoint for the record, “Writ in Water” makes a strong transition into the No Knife-like “Where Nothing Comes Between Us.”

“Girls on Bikes” is the bands nod to pop music of afore – Beatles, Beach Boys, the classics, you know – and “Endless Cycle” is another, standout song.

Preserve the Sound rest comfortable between the wintery wear of Mineral and the summer loving sounds of Recover – two Austin bands that represent different eras in the cities indie rock scene. Could PTS be the harbringers of a new era? Time will tell but for now, Writ in Water is a testament to the shape of things to come.