Too Smooth Waters: Copper Sails, 'Hiding Place'

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LET'S GET ONE point out of the way before we assess the new album by Richmond, Va., rockers Copper Sails: there is nothing wrong with mainstream musical acts per se. Artists like U2, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen all make music designed for wide appeal, and their periods of mega-popularity often coincided with their best work. You don't need to toil in the margins to make great — or even groundbreaking — music.

But it's important to note that none of the aforementioned acts broke through to the masses by tailoring their work for mainstream appeal. Rather, they honed a singular artistic vision and plugged away at that, thereby redefining the rules of the pop marketplace when they broke commercially. And this is why Copper Sails' "Hiding Place" is only an enjoyable album, not a great one, despite having the ingredients to be excellent.

For their second release with their current lineup (and four releases overall), the group doesn't forge the type of distinct identity that will inspire the world to want to come around to their sound. Rather, they've crafted a sound that's ready for the world — and in doing so, they duplicate things we've already heard.

Coldplay and U2 seem to be the most obvious touchstones on "Hiding Place," which is no surprise considering the group was known for its rendition of U2's "I Will Follow" back when it used to mix covers with originals. But being derivative can be OK if you add your own idiosyncrasies into the mix (i.e. Oasis, The Jam, The Gin Blossoms). For the most part, Copper Sails doesn't.

This doesn't mean the band won't glide up the charts and into the hearts of listeners. Already, they've generated buzz by placing the album's wide-screen rocker "Sleeping Giant" on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight." And there's no doubt the song's chorus hook ("The world is waking up!") is catchy. But it's catchy in the everyman manner of such one-trick acts like Dishwalla ("Counting Blue Cars"), Semisonic ("Closing Time") or Vertical Horizon ("Everything You Want"). The tune might well end up in heavy rotation on radio, but people's enthusiasm will probably be for the song itself, not the group.

Part of the problem, ironically, is the band's abundance of talent. Singers Boomer Muth and Jonathan Crawley have voices that are so pleasantly agreeable that they can't help but lack for personality. A song like "Reckless Motorist" ostensibly tells of a troublesome personal situation, but the too-smooth vocals dampen the drama of lines like "I wish that we could slow down/long enough to jump out." Sometimes limitations as a singer actually help artists achieve a more indelible sound (see U2, Springsteen, etc. above). Even the world-on-my-shoulders routine by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin established a clear sense of personality, at least when he introduced it.

Similarly, no one's gonna complain about any offensive notes played by guitarist Crawley, drummer Jim Courtney and keyboardist Kyle Crosby (Muth plays bass, which is largely downplayed in the mix). Songs like the lead-off title track build up a good head of steam without ever really exploding. Part of the reason for this is Ted Comerford's pedestrian production, but some of the blame needs to be laid at the feet of indie rock stalwart Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Pavement, Suzanne Vega) who mixed the CD.

Easter sands off the rough edges of this record with so much professional audio polish that it takes a while before you realize the power of, say, the chorus of "Still Lost" or the weeping guitar line on "Spinning." Phasing effects and odd sounds pop in and out of the soundscape, but they don't necessarily grab your attention because of the massive amounts of compression Easter employs. The songs on "Hiding Place" are better crafted than on the band's self-released 2004 effort, "Silhouette," but there's something to be said about that release's rougher production, because it let the band come off as more real.

Or maybe "Hiding Place" was designed as overtly commercial fodder on purpose. Copper Sails may be getting buzz now, but this wasn't always the case. They've been around for a while and dropped their first album, "Some Strange Reason," back in 2000, when Muth and Crawley led a different lineup during their days at Virginia Tech. Who can blame them for wanting success badly after all that time?

All those years in the trenches did pay off in terms of songwriting, though, because the band's sense of songcraft is clearly top-caliber. Granted, some of the music comes too close to their avowed influences (Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie), but they have a keen compositional ear, especially in the area of guitar riffs, as evidenced by the jangly one on "Morning Comes Too Early." There's also some effective and dramatic interpolation of major and minor chords ("Fool"), fist-raising Big Choruses ("Nobody Move") and sweet harmony lines ("Okay"). The group, which composes collectively, also plays well as an organic unit, with each musician mapping out parts to serve the songs, not their own egos.

Copper Sails veers into more exciting waters when they let Crosby's keyboards take the lead, like on "Reckless Motorist," which conjures the melancholy atmospherics of half-forgotten British acts like the Blue Nile and China Crisis. The closing number, "Night Will Never Come," is underpinned by an elegiac acoustic piano line that's positively haunting.

The 11 songs on "Hiding Place" all offer at least one interesting musical or lyrical turn. But many of the moments are likely to remind you of someone else. Copper Sails is a band that needs to wear more personality and fewer influences on its sleeve.

Written by Express contributor Tony Sclafani