Band: I Can See Mountains
Album: Life on a Houseboat
Label: Panic Records
Genre: Indie/Pop-Punk

What is there in Buffalo, New York? The Buffalo Sabres? My mom would argue “a whole lot of sadness and grey skies.” She’s probably right because she is indeed right about most things, but if you were to ask me I’d probably mention the budding punk and indie scene. Buffalo produced one of my favorite records of 2012, Pentimento’s self-titled debut, and in 2013 the birth place of my wonderful father gave me another release to get excited about: I Can See Mountains’ Life on a Houseboat. The band may have only been around for few years, but their debut full-length is a polished, infectious and fun record that will take over my (and your) ears in the coming summer months.

I Can See Mountains does some really marvelous things with Life on a Houseboat. Infusing both their pop-punk and indie influences, the record pushes and builds like a punk record, but is always inheritably rooted in developed indie rock musicality. It is this blend that shines throughout the entirety of Life on a Houseboat, and creates a really well written record that doesn’t sacrifice great musicianship for raw catchiness. Even on a first listen through, I found myself banging my head to songs such as the title track, “Life on a Houseboat,” and scrambling to try and sing along to words I knew I did not know. Why? Because this album begs you to be involved in the listening process. Often times as listeners we find ourselves enjoying music very passively, using it as background noises to our everyday life. While Life on a Houseboat is definitely pleasurable on a surface level, this record is best enjoyed when you allow yourself to be fully immersed in everything it has to offer. The guitar parts are extremely intricate and thought out, but don’t linger too long on a specific idea, which I can really appreciate (because I can get bored really easily). The production on the record is really good as well, and a lot of that is owed to the group’s love of that signature DIY indie-punk sound.

I Can See Mountains’ Life on a Houseboat has soaring vocals that I can’t help but long to see in a sweaty basement show setting. This is the kind of record where you sing along with your best friends in the car, in your room, or when you’re on your way to see the band live. Recently, I’ve really grown to love this style of indie-punk, because I feel these bands really take care to not only create musically sound songs, but they also put a lot more stock in each and every word that is sung. I Can See Mountains tells it how it is on Life on a Houseboat, adeptly describing the awkward experiences that come with growing up today, may it be the troubles of understanding your friends or learning to talk to the girl you like.  The song “Glory” is one of my favorites on the record, because it really captures all the different feelings that go with really caring about someone. The song screams, “On your way home there is a tree that never loses its leaves, I like to picture it naked …” which I figure is both very literal, but suggestive at the same time. I generally try not to read too much into lyrics, but this one won’t get out of my head. I really wish that the mix on the vocals was a little higher (sometimes the lyrics are hard to figure out), but I know that was probably a stylistic choice. “One Big Table” slows the record down to a mid-tempo pace where through the music and huge gang-vocals I can only picture a bunch of friends hanging out, drunkenly singing along to a favorite song of the group.

There have been a lot of records that people claim “capture the experience of growing up,” but I’d argue that this year Life on a Houseboat is one of the only records to actually achieve this hard to reach goal. There are still those pop-punk jams that talk about girls really plainly, and that’s all well and good, but it’s the songs that really tell a story where the endless replay value of this album is found. You can hear all of the experiences in this record. You can hear the love, heartbreak, happiness, sadness, and everything in between on this album, and it is a feat that is seemingly accomplished with relatively no real effort. Life on a Houseboat is the kind of record I want to take the time to get to know, and in doing so allow let it further entrench itself inside my ear drums. I’ve been behind this band since I was first shown them by UTG owner James early last year, and Life on a Houseboat shows me why I’ve continued having faith in them for so long.

SCORE: 8.5/10

Written By: Tyler Osborne

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Tyler Osborne

Live in DC, grew up in PA. I specialize in writing, filming and taking pictures about punk, pop-punk, and hardcore music, and I also have a huge background in film as well. When not on the site, i'm running my own internet radio show, ToZ's Edge Radio (www.facebook.com/tozedgeradio). I also love stage diving and goldfish.

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