REVIEW: ‘We Are The Tide’ by Blind Pilot

In 2008, Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski, collectively known as Blind Pilot released their debut album through a small record label based out of Portland. Titled 3 Rounds and a Sound, the album quickly flew off the shelves (perhaps not literally, as it peaked at 13 on Billboard’s Digital Downloads chart), and rightly so: the album is beautiful in its simplicity and mood, as if you’re sitting in the same room while they’re playing the music. Despite this success, the band stayed refreshingly modest, embarking on a West Coast tour via bicycle, with equipment in tow. In the following years, their name grew big enough to open for acts such as Counting Crows, The Hold Steady, and The Decemberists, and their act grew bigger as well. Blind Pilot expanded from a two-man venture to a six-piece touring ensemble, incorporating a plethora of additional sounds and melodies to their new material as well as their existing songs.

Now, three years after their breakout debut, Blind Pilot has released We Are The Tide, which serves as more of an expansion of their core sound as opposed to a departure. While both of Blind Pilot’s albums credit the same eight musicians, their presence is much more evident in We Are The Tide. While 3 Rounds added a little flair with the occasional trumpet or vibraphone, but the majority of the sound came from Nebeker’s soothing guitar and Dobrowski’s expertly subtle percussion. This, in my opinion, is what drew me to 3 Rounds in the first place: it felt like these songs were being played just for me. This, combined with the fact that the band wasn’t that well known despite its chart position, gave each listen the impression that I had found a private lounge that I could escape to whenever I pleased. We Are…, on the other hand, exercises the instruments considerably more, giving the record a much different feel than its predecessor; more complete and yet less satisfying. Nebeker’s voice and guitarwork, both simple yet distinctive, are still the foundations that Blind Pilot sits upon, but the charm has somewhat diminished with the clutter of the ensemble.

We Are The Tide is somewhat of a bookend album. By this, I mean that while there may be some exceptional songs in the middle, it is primarily supported by its beginning and ending numbers. The album begins with what is arguably its strongest track, titled “Half Moon”, and stays on a decent yet inferior level until the final song, the “New York”. We Are… does stay fairly consistent, and while none of the songs come close to 3 Rounds’ “Oviedo” or “The Story I Heard”, Nebeker’s effortless vocals and lyrics help make all of them at least listenable. The heart that made 3 Rounds such an outstanding effort is still present, but it is obstructed and diluted. However, if you’re new to Blind Pilot and don’t have any strong connection to the first album as I do, this album might sound just fine. But if you’re looking for more of the same, quiet acoustics of 3 Rounds, you will most likely be disappointed. If there’s one thing that We Are The Tide truly accomplishes, it’s that bigger is not always better.

6.5 Golden Eggs