The Alternates: Spiders and Webs
Review by Ellen Eldridge
The Alternates released Spiders and Webs in 2011, and though I’ve been a bit slow on the review, this is a great deal for six well-structured songs. Not only are the vocals strong but Spencer Livingston’s voice vacillates between sounding like Eddie Vedder on Vitology in “Changing Course” and resonating like Neil Young with his message. The effect of this similarity will attract fans of Pearl Jam, but won’t disappoint fans of any rock genre characterized by introspection and fueled by talented musicianship.
The political movement of Occupy Wall Street called Livingston to write a song that can be heard on the band’s website: http://www.thealternatesband.com/. The majority of the lyrical themes on Spiders and Webs revolve around change and finding one’s place. That simple truth presents elegantly against soft rhythms and soothing vocals. “If I break, just piece me back together,” in “Metamorphosis” really drives this idea home to listeners.
The definite quality of folk wisdom appears along Spiders and Webs, and the juxtaposition of opening track, “The Modern Way” against the closing track, “Slow and Steady” just feels like a perfect portrait of a band truly coming into its own; observing and reflecting on the world around the tour bus, that’s the general feeling taken away from Spiders and Webs.
