Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Let It Sway

What on earth would inspire someone to name their band Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin I will never know. Based on the band’s name alone, you could be forgiven for expecting to hear something that would make you want to don your best ushanka and crack open a bottle of vodka. Just on a quick side note, don’t be too impressed by the fact that I know what a ushanka is, I literally typed “Russian Hat” into Wikipedia and that’s where it took me. But breathe a sigh of relief, because aside from their name, SSLYBY have absolutely nothing to do with tired Russian clichés.

What I was actually expecting to hear was a bunch of kids (well not quite, but almost), playing their instruments well but not outstandingly, with the end result being a record that was good, but not great. This, in my opinion, would be a fair assessment of ‘Broom’, the title of their debut album. There are some songs on that album that I love, such as Anne Elephant, but others strike me as rather average. The band have released a second album since then, titled ‘Perishing’, but much to my ignorance, I didn’t actually know this.

Which meant that I was even more impressed when I heard their new album, ‘Let it Sway’, which sounds every bit as crisp, polished and professional of a band years their senior. I was impressed about one minute into the first song, and this first impression never really changed significantly. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin seem to have really captured the sound that made their earlier work great in patches, and focussed it in to make a consistently great album.

The great thing about thing about ‘Let It Sway’ is that, although it is more focussed, it retains a light-hearted feel right the way through. The rhythms, riffs, and vocals are all very catchy, and although I hate to use the word infectious, it’s somewhat accurate. Case in point, i’m in the library right now bobbing my head to ‘In Pairs’. I probably look like rather ridiculous, you’d probably judge me for it if you saw me. But I’m well aware of this, and I’m still doing it.

If you’re in need of a comparable band, think Band of Horses minus the melancholy. At times I felt like I could have been listening to a softer version of The Checks (in particular, the vocals on ‘Banned’ gave me this impression), or a scaled-down version of Cut Off Your Hands. All in all, I really enjoyed the album, and I can definitely recommend it.

Rating – 8. For the record, I’m a big fan of ‘Back in the Saddle’, ‘In Pairs’, and ‘Critical Drain’.
For fans of – Band of Horses, Voxtrot, Cut Off Your Hands, The Checks