Brothers reunite for the San Sebastian debut album

THE San Sebastian’s excellent debut album Alive On The Black Sea represents the reunion of Adelaide brothers Joel and Dan Crannitch after four years of separate projects.

Adelaide band The San Sebastian, Joel and Dan Crannitch, have released a 2018 album Alive On The Black Sea.

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RED River, the opening track of The San Sebastian’s excellent debut album Alive On The Black Sea on the Spunk! label, eloquently sets the tone for the 10 songs and instrumentals which follow.

The album represents the reunion of Adelaide brothers Joel and Dan Crannitch, formerly the much-vaunted indie band Leader Cheetah, after four years of separate musical projects.

The pair got back together in mid-2016 up in the Adelaide Hills home where they grew up and Leader Cheetah used to write and rehearse. The result is a cohesive album where they sing and play everything themselves.

Red River is a folk-driven tune about the historical toll farming has exacted on the wilderness with Joel’s catchy guitar riff punctuating brother Dan’s distinctive vocals. The narrator concludes that Red River “we let you down — it was 1891 when the penetration had begun, by 1992 there was little left that we could do”.

There’s an honesty about the duo without being preachy. They write about things they care about — friends, family, life and the environment where they grew up.

Dan’s voice has a lot of vibrato — think of the Bee Gees without the falsetto — and a very individual delivery. You will either love it or hate it, but you’d better get used to it because Dan is very much the front man here.

HAZY

But there’s plenty of excellent stuff going on behind him, with indie producer Phil Elk (Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes, the Shins) giving all of it his trademark hazy/jangly summertime feel.

San Sebastian's Alive On The Black Sea.

Whether it’s the sentimental Mamas and Papas retro feel of Forgotten Star or the Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western sound world of the short instrumental interludes Tempo del Sol and Wave of Fire, the band is always weaving some good musical magic behind the vocals.

The brief instrumentals with their occasional bossa nova latin feel act as circuit breakers for the more serious tracks. And this is an impressive bunch of self-penned songs. The Endless Ride has a mesmeric groove featuring some nice violin and alt country guitar licks against the solid rhythm section.

Forgotten Star is certainly one of the strongest tracks, conveying a sense of lost love against a deceptively jaunty backing. It’s about falling autumn leaves and “little teardrops represent the scar, little teardrops that’s maybe who we are”.

Tuesday Anna is an indie slow rock number with some nice Mike Oldfield-style layered guitars.

The album ends satisfyingly in John Lennon mode with Burn Brighter Without Me, a rather wistful number about a jilted lover.

Alive On The Black Sea is being released on May 25. Check music stores and download sites for prices and availability.