Detroit’s biggest indie-rock act in terms of popularity is the White Stripes, but the city’s biggest-sounding group has to be the Silent Years. The group is technically a five-piece, but they certainly aren’t shy in asking others to join in, with over a dozen people being credited as “performers” in the liner notes of their sophomore album The Globe (and that doesn’t include the horn section, who are billed as an ensemble). Not surprisingly, The Globe is a epic-sounding record, with arching guitar riffs accompanying omnipresent keyboard melodies and driving beats while backing singers and the previously mentioned horn section wait in the wings ready to flood your speakers at a moment’s notice. Amazingly, no matter what the Silent Years try to do, they pull it off. When they’re trying guitar-driven rock (“Climb on My Back”) it works, when they get crazy with percussion and keyboards (“Goddamn You!”) it works, and even when they kick it down-home country-style (“Black Hole”), it works. Some might say that they need to tighten up a bit and pick a sound, but why? Sure, there may be a lot going on with The Globe – but it’s all good. (First Date Records 2008)
