Sinaloa - Footprints On Floorboards

Sometimes, there are bands that I hear a lot of great things about, bands that get compared to other bands that I like a lot, and bands that because of this reason, I think I would really like. Which is why Sinaloa frustrates me. All of the above scenarios have happened with them, but for some reason, I haven't heard anything by them that really sinks its claws into me and won't let go.

I think the biggest issue I run into when thinking about Sinaloa is the scene in which they are from. Massachusetts has a bunch of fantastic screamo/emo acts playing around the area, including Ampere and Daniel Striped Tiger, two bands that I am big fans of. Coincidentally, I have seen both of those bands live before. Maybe if I saw Sinaloa I would finally get what they're trying to accomplish a bit clearer. Right now, all I hear is that Sinaloa is a band that traffics in the sort of early/mid-90s emo that bands like Moss Icon or Indian Summer became known for.

Meanwhile, Footprints On Floorboards, while being far from offensive, falls into pits of redundancy with me. It becomes hard for me to distinguish songs from one another, and the vocals are pretty uniform throughout the entire album, in that each line usually starts at a pretty high pitch, and works it way down. With the lack of a bass player (except on two tracks, and it's an acoustic double bass!), their guitar work becomes harder to distinguish from song to song. Basically, it all just kind of runs together. They lack the immediate, huge riffs of Daniel Striped Tiger, or the balls out chaos of Ampere.

Yet, part of me feels bad for being so harsh towards Sinaloa. The reason they don't have a bass player is because either their old or prospective bass player ended up dying. They kept the space vacant as a memorial. I also feel bad because there is a ton of emotion being released in every song. Not in a whiny/self-indulgent way, but in huge cathartic bursts. There's just some sort of indistinguishable wall holding them back from me really getting into them.

There are two minutes where Sinaloa hit true pay dirt on this album, and they're the songs "Green Street" and the absolutely staggering closer "With Our Ears To The Soil." The latter has to be one of the more powerful songs I've heard recently, no doubt.

I'll be taking a look at their 2008 album Oceans Of Islands somewhat soon. Maybe that will be the one to finally convert me.

-Erik