First Look: New Sights Album

Their best yet? Early next month the Detroit rock mainstays issue their first album in half a decade, and we have a hunch it was worth the wait.

By Tim Hinely

While still in high school in the suburbs of Detroit, leader Eddie Baranek formed this exciting band and began turning heads with their 1999 debut, Are You Green?  Two other records (and several tours of America and Europe) followed but it has been 5 years since the last Sights record (2005's self-titled record on the Sweet Nothing label) so fans of the band have been hungry for half a decade. With a new lineup (now expanded to a quartet) Baranek and company set out to make a statement, and on the new Most of What Follows is True (Sights Army; www.sightsarmy.com) they do indeed.

The band comes out of the gate with the guitar-heavy "How Do You Sleep?" sounding like a mix between The Creation and Blue Cheer while "Hello to Everybody" is a charging power pop nugget which doesn't forget the humor ("Well I tried suicide but it wasn't for me, it got to be a little too trendy"). A few tunes add some nifty pedal steel ("I Left My Muse" and "Back to You") while the jangly "Maria" adds a nice Beatles touch to the proceedings (and "Happy" is pure 1967 Who with those opening Keith Moon-esque thundering drum fills).

Baranek proudly wears his influences on his sleeve but when the attention to songcraft is this detailed you won't hear too much complaining. Their best yet.

[Photo Credit: Doug Coombe]