Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing

All We Could Do Was Sing (2008) Port O'Brien's second studio album. ***

The California residents Port O'Brien have churned out an interesting sophomore effort. It's an indie-folk blast reminiscent of the Avett Brothers, Bon Iver, Broken Social Scene, and even Arcade Fire. And although it starts off with intensity and harsh focus, it slowly loses its way (intentionally or not) and crawls towards an end. The anthemic title track sets a great mood of freedom, and the following two cuts establish the album's theme of a yearning soul being trapped by illusionary obligations. But things slip up a bit starting with "Pigeonhold," which seemingly criticizes today's young quasi-hippie crowd, accusing them of stealing the past phenomenon of the 60's and not being as original and free-thinking as they claim to be. An interesting concept, but the band itself sounds like hippies, and thus lines up the hypocritical "I do that, but anyone else who does it is stupid." It may not be true, the members of Port O'Brien might be straight edge, but it's a message not suiting them. After that brief head-turner All We Could Do Was Sing quickly heads downhill into a cycle of pointless jams and boring guitar progressions, and scurries in the last two to three songs to re-vamp the album's themes. While it isn't close to being perfect, Port O'Brien are capable of expressing their ideas eloquently when they aren't thinking too hard.

Author's Note: Information on distribution label was not found.