fair weather karma
As shocking as it may seem, it's been my observation that a lot of people who really invest their time in dreampop are quite conservative in terms of sound. I sometimes feel as if those that do feel as if they have a need, a desire, a calling that requires them to preserve the sonic ideas of 1988-1994, when bands such as Adorable, Lush, Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints and Spaceman 3 walked the earth. Not that those bands were bad--many of them were really, really good--but where do you draw the line between innovation and mere imitation?

Sciflyer's the latest group on the scene, and though they don't do anything terribly innovative, they do have a few things that differ from your ordinary, hum-drum shoegaze bands, and the main thing that sets them apart is the fact that they're not really trying to be innovative. Sure, that sounds lazy, but it's quite obvious to me that Sciflyer is more concerned about making a lovely sounding record that's pleasant on the ears and atmosphere-creating than they are about being uber-original. In a weird kind of way, their decision to stay close to the formula is actually quite original; though they definitely sound like a shoegaze band, they don't really sound like any particular band. Plus, there's a harder rock edge to Fair Weather Karma that is definitely not in others who make similar music.

Really, though, there's nothing to complain about here. True, the vocals are so faint and distant that you really don't hear them unless you try to, but, again, I don't feel as if their point is to make some sort of grand lyrical statement. These songs are all utterly pretty and wonderful and even though no one particular song stands out-- Sciflyer almost comes across as an instrumental band who happen to have vocals--it's impossible to deny that this album is a pleasure to listen to. It's easily a record that's meant for listening to while reading books on a rainy Sunday afternoon. (You should follow the band's advice, because it does indeed sound 'better with headphones.')

reviewed by: Joseph Kyle for Mundane Sounds

It was just over a year ago that I went a bit rough on the three-track Melt EP by Sciflyer. I'll admit that it was a little hard to get past the super lo-fi recording and the muddy sound, but that release still felt like the band was in transition in terms of which direction they wanted to go after their first EP. While they haven't changed their style a huge amount from between that very first release and this newest album, they've definitely refined their songwriting and pulled out some better melodies along the way. The result is 9 tracks of space-rocking goodness, and a huge step up from either of their previous efforts.

Although the group still used an old-school 8-track recorder for the album, this go-around they were helped by a couple different producers (who have worked with everyone from Tarentel to Stratford 4), and although the soft edges are still there, they simply blur out into an overall gauzy haze that the album projects. The opening track of "Barnstorm" sets the stage with what sounds like something off their previous efforts, a tinny strummer that lacks any real sonic depth. Fortunately, that track is only 1 minute long and when contrasted with the more produced, rich swirling guitars of the following track "Burn And Sell," it only serves as an even more solid reminder of the better recording values and how much they help bring things alive. The latter track is a full-tilt rock track with buried vocals that wraps around itself nicely before squirming loose and taking off.

"You're From The Ocean" keeps the pace on the high end of things before the group drops a lull bomb in the form of the blissed-out "Burning Down The House" (no relation to the Talking Heads song). As with the rest of the vocals on the release, they're absolutely buried beneath the thick haze of guitars, and really only become another melodic element in the song (because you'd have to be pretty darn good at deciphering to figure out what they were saying), drifting behind the layers of cascading guitars. At 12 minutes, it runs through ideas pretty quickly before recycling them, but like many tracks of its nature, the repetitive, psychedelic nature

The group is at their best when they hit sort of a mid-tempo stride that allows for maximum guitar atmosphere exposure. The fuzzy rockers have been done millions of times by other groups, so it's hard to make tracks like, "Like An Ion" really stand out without a great hook or vocal melody, neither of which it doesn't really have. The warm instrumental of "Alpha Centauri" plays like a charm, though, despite its simplicity, mainly because the guitars can really stretch out and meld with the fuzzy recording technique. By the end of the album, the vocals have gotten a wee bit higher in the mix, and on "Letting Go Of Everything," they're almost discernable. It almost feels like something Ride would have done on a good day, and it's a nice closer to the release. Sciflyer have made steps with this release, and if you're a fan of soft shoegazing (with the occasional rock moment), you'd probably do well to hunt it down.

reviewed by: almostcool.org

Shortly after our feature last year on the contemporary shoegaze scene, our in-house attorney obtained an injunction barring the writers from using the term "nugaze" - no doubt to squelch any looming journalistic cliches. (Hey, try saying "post-rock" aloud now without snickering.) Just the same, if the, er, shoe fits, go ahead and lace that sucker up. California's Sciflyer is dead-square in that context; guitarist/singer Steve Kennedy previously played with Chris Streng of Stratford 4, and Sciflyer has shared bills with Magnet n**gaze faves S4, Voyager One and the High Violets. Present here are enough submerged vocals and atmospheric blissouts to keep a Creation Records convention hopping for an entire weekend. The band takes its name from a song on the first Swervedriver album, and "You're From the Ocean" could pass for a long-lost Swervedriver outtake. Sciflyer is no one-shoe pony, however. Former Rain Parade guitarist Matt Piucci helped with the recording, and subtle Rain Parade-y moments can be heard on "Like an Ion", a marriage of vintage jangle-pop and thick, dreamy psych. The churning "Burn & Sell" has a Ramones-meets-Who three-chord wallop that no amount of blurry/woozy guitar effects can dilute. Propulsive and visceral yet unerringly melodic, Sciflyer's debut is a juggernaut ride to the ravedown.

reviewed by: Fred Mills for Magnet Magazine

One of the more compelling new bands I’ve heard in a while, Sciflyer — a trio from San Francisco — has released its second CD, “Fair Weather Karma.” The band’s new wrinkle on Brit-influenced “shoegazer” rock is to make it actually rock. Highlights like “You’re From the Ocean” sound like prime Husker Du armed with wah-wah and delay pedals instead of only distortion boxes. They’re also good at the more spacey, expansive guitar rock, like the trancey, 12-minute “Burning Down the House” or the beautiful midtempo tune “Letting Go of Everything.” Recorded at guitarist/vocalist Scott Kennedy’s house, his breathy vocals are mixed far too low, but the dynamic, punchy music more than makes up for that.

reviewed by: Mark Earnest for the Reno Gazette-Journal

The debut album from this 3-piece noisepop/shoegazer act begins with the Helios Creed/CHROME-like psychedelic-garage-fuzz screamer 'Burn & Sell', then resolves to place itself firmly in the grasp of mantric drone-rockers like LOOP or MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Vocalist Steve Kennedy is mixed so low in the mix as to appear almost transparent, but that just allows the densely-layered guitars to ebb and flow more prominently. 'Burning Down The House' (not a TALKING HEADS cover) is 12 minutes of lovely midtempo psychedelica packed with subtle drones and tones and a haunting melody underneath it all. That is followed up by the 60s-ish 'Come Up To My Cloud' which seems to channel the BYRDS even, whereas 'Letting Go Of Everything' could be an homage to classic JESUS & MARY CHAIN, which is not a bad thing. An excellent and diverse debut that proves that SCIFLYER have a bright future ahead of them.

reviewed by: Godsend Online

Shoegazer. Noise Pop. Space Rock. Whatever label you want to place on Sciflyer's sound, I would call it blissful, atmospheric, and intricate. There music soars into the atmosphere, but it is not all unstructured by any means. There are definitely hooks and sections to their songs. I think they have found a compromise between shoegazer, atmospheric blissfulness and song structure. They have the feel of a polished rock band hidden within layered guitars and blissful landscapes. Steve Kennedy also does a great job with his subtle vocal style and space laden lyrics.

Karma starts out with a track that was recorded on a four track. It's a great opener for the album and feels very lo-fi while maintaining the bands musical integrity. Burn to Sell, the second track, is a song about betrayal. It has a catchy hook with great effects on the guitar. It's hard to put into words what it actually sounds like. The guitar effect reminds me of the sounds one makes while playing the comb. Lyrically, it is a song about trust, or lack thereof, in a relationship. The album really soars on the 4th track. Burning Down the House is an atmospheric 11:57 minute track that never gets tiring. The guitars are beautifully layered and the bass adds a very subtle touch to this song. Perfect. Lyrically, Burning Down the House impressed me most. "it's cold like a mars night/way out in the sky/i'm burning my house down, so go inside/like sparks from the arc-light/when our worlds collide." I will not venture as to what they mean, because I could not decide whether it was good or bad friction meant by the song, so, I will let you decide. Needless to say, the lyrics on the whole album are a great read and they do a service to all their songs.

The only instrumental on the album is Alpha Centari. It is a mid-tempo, guitar layered track. What I like about it is that it does not drag on forever (it's only 2:32). Sciflyer seems to have a great sense of when things might become too repetitive for the listener. Even their longer songs don't ever get boring and they hold the listeners attention with tempo changes, change ups in the melody and other more intricate musical whimsies. The disc ends in a collide of feedback and sound, echoing the tumultuous lyrical content of all the previous tracks.

This disc is a solid effort. It's thematic lyrics and strong song structures really give cohesion to the whole album. I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

reviewed by: Somewhere Cold

Shoegazers, lift up your heads! The full-length follow-up to 2002's barely-an-EP Melt (itself a too-brief successor to the trio's 2001 eponymous debut) proves worth the wait and then some. Vaporous, subverbal vocals float like motes in soft, glowing clouds of guitars, as the dreamy beat goes on. And on, and on, and on... Sciflyer's fearless ability to pilot a tune beyond the threshold of pop boredom — the majestic, 12-minute-long "Burning Down The House" being the prime example — rewards the patient listener, inducing an hypnotic state that vanquishes jittery cravings for novel stimuli. Although still recording on a vintage eight-track, the band is clearly leaving the lo-fi sound behind, as Fair Weather Karma exhibits a previously unheard sonic gleam. Bravo.

reviewed by: Jim Santo for Demo Universe

Sciflyer is upbeat fuzz noise with an energy that could take you dancing or just leave you on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Bliss-punk? The songs sound like they would be perfectly sugar-sweet pop if they were played clean, but this band is not about clean. Echoing, reverbed vocals drift a little Dean Wareham-like through some of the songs, even though they are speeding unstoppable into a vibrant sunset haze. There's a nice 11-minute Verve-ish track that floats across the middle of the CD, and then it goes into some beautiful and lifting/lilting guitar sparkle that makes me feel like I've just been kissed.

reviewed by: Marcel Feldman for Big Takeover #54

This album is an interesting compilation of songs, giving you a test of some experimental rock sounds and energy. This is one of those albums where you can tell the sounds they produce are intentional. In the mix, I probably would have brought out the vocals a little more, even though it is probably the intent to have then back so far in the mix that they can barely be heard. I like the sound and concepts.

Some of it even reminds me of REM meets Pink Floyd, crossed with any dream rock band you know, and definitely an independent release. I think you will enjoy this album as music to play while hanging out with friends, smoking, drinking, or just chillin’! I would recommend playing this album all of the way through. Go check these guys out.

Favorite Track: 3, “You’re From The Ocean”

reviewed by: Erik Beyer for OnlineRock Sound Review

As far as I can gather this is the debut album from a three piece from the States that can be filed under indie rock. Saying that, this is excellent guitar rock with masses of fuzz and haze overlaid - very psychedelic and one to shoe-gaze to. Claire Records are, in my view, becoming the 4AD of the 21st. The band prefer to record at home on their eight track machine and I think it could be this that gives the album additional warmth, closeness and fuzziness. One thing you'll notice is that there appears to be no vocals. Listen carefully though and you'll hear that these have been mixed down low, adding to the fog. The band have said that as their confidence grows, the vocals will come out more and they'll spend less time staring at their shoes. Still, you'll need a pair of headphones to make out even the loudest mutterings. Sciflyer have appeared on compilations and their music has been used in a couple of surfing videos. Certainly I wouldn't be surprised to find their music being played in outlets like of O'Neils and Fat Face. A really rather fine album with exquisite melodies which just gets better with additional plays. A bloody good combination of dreamy blissed out pop and good old fashioned indie rock.

reviewed by: Modern Dance

The trio known as Sciflyer return with a second album (and their first for Clairecords) entitled Fair Weather Karma. The album is a neo-psychedelic blend of space rock grace and post punk intensity.

The epic twelve-minute “Burning Down the House” (no relation to the Talking Heads classic) is a delicate slice of rock, while “Burn & Sell” suggest a more tuneful Sonic Youth in their heyday. The majority of the music on Fair Weather Karma, though, is relatively restrained. Perhaps the other exception is this: the album closes with a foreboding track called “Letting Go of Everything” which dissipates only to erupt in a reprise—a bloodcurdling wall of noise that ends the album rather loudly. Hard to believe it’s only three people behind all this sound—I suppose that is what amazes me most about Sciflyer.

Fair Weather Karma is a potent and powerful exploration of the droning and feedback-drenched guitar. As its engineers and creators, Sciflyer are adventurous musicians and the result of all their searching is worthwhile.

reviewed by: Jack Alberson for FAC193

Drawing very heavily upon the twin influences of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, the trio called Sciflyer presents a seemingly instrumental, upbeat approach to the whole shoegazer/dreampop equation. In creating their atmospheric, somewhat droning music, Sciflyer relies primarily on an cavalcade of guitar effects and feedback techniques. The dreamy nature of their music tends to lean more towards the Slowdive side of things as the band doesn't use their music to create too much of a harsh or dissonant mood. There is a tendency to dwell in highly repetitive guitar lines, particularly in the nearly twelve minutes of "Burning Down the House" (which is not a Talking Heads cover, in case you were curious). The result, assuming the listener is willing to let him or herself drop into the mood, is music that can quietly captivate and be quite beautiful. Sciflyer does have lyrics and vocals, but they are mixed very much within the rest of the music to create a disembodied, floating voice that is sometimes undetectable. It's very possible that guitarist Steve Kennedy, who provides the voices, is planting subliminal messages but I haven't had the urge to buy the extra large portion of buttered popcorn, so I'm assuming this album is safe.

Fair Weather Karma is very much a passive, low key dreampop album that is most definitely leaning more towards "dream" than "pop". Fans of feedback and droning atmospherics should enjoy this album. It might get too repetitive for some, but for a relaxing escape, it'll do in a pinch.

reviewed by: John Chedsey for Satan Stole My Teddybear