Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music - and everything else - on Amazon! All purchases made on Amazon through this link earn a commission for Jesusfreakhideout.com!

JFH Indie Review

JFH Indie Inspection Review

Seaside Holiday

Seaside Holiday
Grand Tours

Street Date: June 28, 2016
Style: Electronic / New Wave
Official Site: Official Website
Buy It: iTunes
Buy It: AmazonMP3
Buy It: Bandcamp


From the musical hotbed of Ohio, Cara and Morgan McQuate have launched an electronic duo known as Seaside Holiday. Debuting in 2012 with a full-length album, the duo dabbled in Christmas music the following year, and are now back at it with their latest batch of tunes, collectively titled Grand Tours. The McQuates cite influences that the average listener probably isn't aware of (Stereolab, Wild Nothing, Beach House), but one may also hear some NYVES, The Echoing Green, or Joy Electric influence. When it comes to two-member electronic outfits, you typically find that one member takes the music and the other tackles the lyrics/vocals (with some input, of course, from the other person). Seaside Holiday actually features Cara McQuate more heavily, as she not only wrote the lyrics and provides all of the vocals, but she had a big hand in the music as well. This is perhaps one reason that the album feels very cohesive and that the vocal and musical melodies fit really well together. The Depeche Mode-inspired "Etchings of Yesterday" is a great example; as Cara sings in the verses, quiet and haunting electronic guitars come in ever so slightly to complement her melody. The music is terrific; in fact; it's some of the best electronic music I've heard in a long time. "The End of All Things" is very percussion-heavy, with loads of hi-hat and persistent drumming on the snare and toms; "Blue Mass Patch" is similar, but also features some shoegaze and alternative influence, while the steady synthy rhythm of "Wreckage Required" would fit the playlist of an 80s club DJ. Unfortunately, Grand Tours does suffer in the vocals; Cara tends to sing in perhaps a lower register than what her voice is built for. The lyrics are also overly-cryptic and slightly awkward: not only does she emphasize words differently to squeeze them into a melody in which they don't belong, but at times, they also seem like they were poorly translated from another language. "Biding time as the years fly by, but we're doing just fine, don't go and preach of what could be beyond this debris" ("Wartime Recollections"), "The ceaseless day folds into night, walking shadows in line of sight, eminence to crestfallen, abreaction in wrapped box" ("A Vacation in Exile"), "Depraved soul's darkest of night, strongest grip to shield the blind, reassignment of scars in the battered beauty, hope far exceeds a lifelong malady" ("Wreckage Required"), and plenty of other examples are present here. It causes a bit of a dilemma, as the album is very enjoyable from a musical standpoint, but the lyrics and vocals drag it down quite a bit. Since the music is their strongest suit, I'd love an instrumental version of Grand Tours.

- Review date: 7/12/16, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!


 

 

 

go to main Indie review page
go to Indie Review Index

 

                 
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

Search JFH



This Friday, July 25, 2025
ALBUMS
Anchor & Braille New Mexico [Equal Vision]
B. Tee Told You [Syntax]
Bride Scarecrow Messiah CD Re-Release [Girder]
Empowered SALT - EP (independent)
Homesick Prodigals Different Good (independent)
KDNS After Eden [Syntax]
Olivia Lane Songs About Jesus (Deluxe Edition) [BEC]
Tasha Cobbs Leonard TASHA [Motown Gospel]
Kevi Morse Kingston We Winning [Syntax]
Pulpit Vomit Hospital Lens [Rottweiler]
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno Dance for Jesus - EP (independent)
Taylor & Co Worship Breakthrough - EP (independent)
Josh Wright LEAD (independent)

SINGLES
abenezer i was lost - Single [Gotee]
Joe L Barnes Good Shepherd (Studio Version) - Single [Provident]
Sho Baraka Still Got Faith (ft. L3xdivine) - Single [Syntax]
Gracie Binion Easy To Please - Single [BEC]
Katty Camargo Shine Upon Me - Single (independent)
The CCC Collective Thankful - Single (independent)
C4 Crotona Mr. Gritty - Single [Syntax]
CXMMXNS Trust and Obey (feat. CAIN) - Single [Provident]
EJ Swavv & Nickwit2Ks Growth - Single [Syntax]
Forrest Frank GOD'S GOT MY BACK - Single [River House / 10K]
Andrew Gonoude Closer To You - Single (independent)
Noah Paul Harrison Oh Lord My God (Live) - Single [Bethel]
J.Solo All I Have (ft. Kaboose & MotionPlus) - Single [Syntax]
Kings Kaleidoscope + Kings Kaleidoscope Hymns Amazing Grace - Single [BEC]
Tasha Layton Life In Me - Single [BEC]
Lecrae Bless You (feat. Torey D'Shaun) - Single [Reach]
TobyMac God Did It (feat. Jamie MacDonald) - Single [Capitol CMG]
Matt Maher Wait (Radio Version) - Single [Provident]
Hunter Plake Down to Earth - Single [BEC]
QEW JOYXFIX (ft. Stevie Rizo) - Single [Syntax]
Naomi Raine God Will Work It Out - Single [Tribl]
Rave Jesus Runnin' - Single [Provident]
Saints in Exile Bad Vibes - Single [Syntax]
Xander Sallows infinite - Single [DREAM]
Silent Reflection Left Me for Dead - Single [Syntax]
Michael W. Smith Your Love Is A Flood - Single [The Fuel]
John Stratton The Body and the Blood - Single [Pure Mosaic Services]
Regina Vandereijk You're the Light - Single (independent)
Joel Vaughn Feel It - Single [DREAM]
Zach Williams Killed A Man - Single [Provident]
Zauntee Jesus Down In Florida - Single [BEC]

VINYL
Bride Scarecrow Messiah Vinyl [Girder]

DVD
Jordan Smith The People's Hymnal DVD [Gaither]

This Saturday, July 26, 2025
SINGLES
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno What Would You Do? - Single (independent)

Next Friday, August 1, 2025
ALBUMS
Crash Rickshaw Big Sir - EP [Velvet Blue]
McKamey Legacy Holding to Truth [Horizon]
Ordained Thunder Roar [Girder]
V1 Worship Archives [DREAM Worship]

SINGLES
Dan Bremnes Human - Single [Curb]
Lauren Daigle Let It Be A Hallelujah - Single [Centricity]
Sleeping At Last Believe - Single (independent)

VINYL
Disciple Attack! (Limited Run Vinyl) Vinyl [Girder]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Join honey and save on online purchases!
Get all of JFH's indie compilation now totally free!
Check out depositphotos for royalty free images