Search - Six By Seven :: The Things We Make

Divide and multiply

Toby Huntington | London, UK | 03/31/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Any band who can carry a singer with as bad a voice as Chris Olley have to be pretty impressive - that Six By Seven manage not only to do this, but even make his blocked-nose delivery surprisingly emotional have some kind of rare talent. Not that it shows all the time - the first five songs are good, and Brilliantly Cute is a cathartic masterpiece of guitar abuse, but towards the end of the album there is a distinct lack of innovation and enthusiasm. In European Me and Spy Song they demonstrate that they can take a song and build it up to great effect; in Something Wild they need only four minutes to prove they can be a poor pub-rock band. Funny that the grand gestures should be the ones that come off well, while the short stuff lets them down badly."

Times of brilliance

alexliamw | 03/15/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"the cd offers a variety of sounds that will suck the listener into the dimension that is six by seven. "european me" creates a dream state in the listener that boarders on perfection. songs like "for you" and "88-92-96" are the strong points of the album with mesmerizing psychedelic freak-outs bringing each track to an end. the cd has strong resemblances to swervedriver and i would strongly recommend this album."

A good start to their career

alexliamw | Oxford | 04/14/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Six By Seven are one of the best indie bands in the UK, and command a strong following despite a lack of mainstream success. Their debut has longer and more epic songs than the two albums which have followed since, with very 90s, slightly underproduced production, and a wall of sound. A bit like Stone Roses meets My Bloody Valentine perhaps. 'Candlelight' has a baggy groove and a catchy tune, 'European Me' is a haunting, slightly gothic number and 'Oh! Dear' is a building, swirling symphony of noise. In between there are some less successful efforts: the slightly one-dimensional 'Something Wild' and 'Brilliantly Cute', the latter verging into punk-influenced territory without the confidence of later efforts like the explosive 'Speed Is In/Speed Is Out' off their 3rd album. '88-92-96' is a little directionless. Its actually less heavy than some of the stuff that followed: third album 'The Way I Feel Today' is more varied and has more focus and clarity in the sound. The last 5 songs are noticably less good than the first 5, with the exception of 'Oh! Dear'. The first 5 have more memorable guitar shapes and tunes. Overall, though, this is a good album worth owning, if not as great as later efforts."