Go Back In Time With Save The Clocktower

By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 19, 2011 8:20PM

It’s only appropriate that Save the Clocktower takes its name from a Back to the Future reference. Like the time traveling protagonists Doc and Marty, the electro-pop three-piece are preservers of the past. Their upcoming sophomore effort, Carousel, is a potpourri of 90-s inspired alternative rock, electronic dance, and synthpop, incorporating both live and electronic instrumentation.

The album opens with “Drip,” a throbbing, synth-driven dance beat backed by lukewarm vocals that ask “How many minutes do I have left? How many minutes to go through motions?” With all those electronics, the listener hardly expects to hear live instrumentation in the following track, “You Got Me,” a steady-paced song inspired by the droning guitar riffs, monotonic vocals, and psychedelic elements of shoegaze. The album continues with a medley of sounds: the twitchy electronica and digitized vocals of “The One Thing;” the pleasantly simple soft rock of “They"; and the dreamy pop of “Sinking Ship.”

Some may take this varied assortment for scattered mishmash or accuse it of being overly reliant on nostalgia. And admittedly, some tracks are so heavily inspired that they’re nearly imitations - “Far Apart,” for example, too strongly recalls uneasy memories of early Coldplay. But as a whole, Carousel is refreshingly diverse and manages to surprise the listener with each track.

Save the Clocktower will officially release Carousel Saturday, February 26. You can pick up a copy and catch their live performance that same night, when they celebrate with a CD release show at the Hideout. Also playing will be local pop act Violetness.

Save the Clocktower plays Saturday, February 26 at the Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia, 9 p.m., $8, 21+