Caught in Motion: On the Edge of a Dream

Album Review of New Portland Band’s Debut Full Length

Feb 17, 2009

Portland indie acoustic band Caught in Motion's founding members Banah Graf and Sam Krulewitch deliver a spark of the original in their pleasant and striking debut record

Indie Suite continues its series on great Portland bands with new pretenders to the crown of best undiscovered new band, Caught in Motion, and their quirky debut On the Edge of a Dream.

Formed just 18 months ago, Caught in Motion’s signature sound is already strikingly different while still based in a firm indie acoustic context. Blindingly original percussive lines and piano accompaniments sit alongside wistful drawn out vocals, and a scattering of some unconventional melodic strains.

Origins and Signature Sound

The band was founded by childhood friends, Banah Graf and Sam Krulewitch. At college, they separately tried their hands at pop, funk, hard rock and jazz before reuniting four years later in Santa Barbara, CA, where they refined each other's ideas into their debut record, On The Edge of a Dream.

While the band now has a full 5-strong lineup for live shows, including bassist Ben Kohen, drummer Josh Baruch and lead guitarist Ken Hess, it was the founding duo that created the album’s illusion of a five-piece band with Krulewitch on bass and piano and Graf on guitars, drums, and vocals.

Billed as sounding like Radiohead, Elliot Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Nada Surf and Anathallo, Caught in Motion blends core jazz influences, which particularly come through in the percussion and piano accompaniment.

‘Blood Still Beats’, Jazz Fuelled Percussion

The album opens impressively with ‘Blood Still Beats’, a rushing, jazz-fuelled percussion and piano driven track. Unusual rhythms and a cymbal heavy percussive line create a hissing, fizzing, uplifting energy tempered by mellow, stripped down and jazz-grounded piano accompaniment.

It’s melodic, with some effortless hooks and natural chord progressions which tumble into the track’s catchy chorus. It feels organic, educated, sentimental without being gushing, and is a triumph of contrasts. The Decemberists meet Placebo, perhaps. The piano is pensive, wistful even, but the track never gets heavy or depressing with its uplifting percussion. As with all the best of the tracks on the record, a timeless quality sits alongside the very modern.

Sublime Jazz-Styled Riffs, The Decemberists and Fleet Foxes

In a similar vein, ‘Halo’ thrills with its sublime jazz-styled piano riff, which creates an unusual and accomplished combination with the track's snapping, rushing percussion. Though the vocal line could benefit from feeling a little tighter, its best sections are wistful, harmonised and effortless, as if the Decemberists and the Fleet Foxes started jamming in a jazz bar. It verges on brilliance.

Brushed Percussion and Awkward Melodies

The duo slow the pace for the beautiful ‘Heroes’, a moving and poignant piano track, following ‘On the Edge of a Dream’, where brushed percussion once again lifts a technically authoritative guitar track like adding fizz to lemonade. Its rhythm changes are vibrant and interesting.

However, its melodies are troublesome, and it’s not the first occasion where they seem to sit awkwardly in the space left by some otherwise great arrangements. There’s a little too much dependence on sitting on a particular note, or particular chord types, elongated notes with no real impact, and forced extra syllables for the sake of a dramatic word; often something simpler would have accentuated the natural accomplishments of these talented musicians.

Striking Drums, Thom Yorke

And yet ‘Drop the Ball Now’ has some gorgeously decisive, striking percussion; something that the album is so full of even the mighty Kings of Leon could sound a bit ordinary afterwards.

Meanwhile Indie Suite quite liked ‘My Busy Mind’. Graf’s vocals find a soft niche and are perfectly suited to the numb sadness pervading the track in a Thom Yorke kind of way. Yes, Indie Suite liked this track, until it got to the full minute long dirge ending: “Nothing at all”. Over a minute of the same repeated phrase, getting increasingly more strained and depressing. Make it stop. Better still, make it stop at 2m 45s, cut the dross at the end and there’s a decent track.

Heavy Guitars and a Hey Jude Finale

A shift of direction in the album’s final stages signals a tighter melody that really works hard in ‘Why Can’t You Forget?’. Heavy guitars periodically vamp up the energy the album has had so far, while the softer sections coax emotion from often thoughtful lyrics. Awesome shift of tone.

‘Reaching Out’ is a muddled and bitty track that confuses its way through a good 5 minutes before making way for ‘Something’s Gotta Give’, a much more cohesive, lightly skipping track reminiscent of '90s indie-folk bands. It swells with ‘Hey Jude’-esque fervour to bring the album to an emphatic close.

This is a mixed offering from the Portland act who have recently supported Indie Suite favourites Blind Pilot. It’s varied and full of contrasts: highs and lows, glimpses of brilliance alongside shocking wrong turns. Some tracks demand recognition, others fall far short. What’s clear is that the album’s best bits are full of promise and originality that will hopefully find their way into a more consistent sophomore effort. The journey begins. Bring it on boys.

Caught in Motion have a West Coast tour starting in late April as well as a number of Seattle and Portland shows coming soon.