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Active since the distant September 2000 and led by the talented frontman Ben Fox Smith (formerly of Stony Sleep), Serafin are among the most underrated bands in the vast and varied British music scene.
Only in 2003 did they release their debut album with the splendid "No Push Collide", then driven by two impactful singles like "Day By Day" and, especially, "Things Fall Apart". The first is a beautiful blend of resounding guitars and very catchy melodic lines, the second is one of the most beautiful singles produced by a British band in recent years, in the vein of the very first works of their compatriots Placebo. The production of the full-length album is entrusted to the renowned producer Dave Sardy.
The aforementioned two hits are, however, just the tip of the iceberg; "No Push Collide", in fact, does not follow the overused britpop-indie trend typical of certain (numerous) British bands, but ventures into a completely different discourse. Serafin, in fact, define themselves as a cross between Jane's Addiction and Weezer, although they have often been compared to bands such as Pixies, Nirvana, the same Placebo, Radiohead, Blur, and Jacob's Mouse.
In this excellent debut, we find numerous ingredients that make each track interesting and engaging until the last note: the noisy first track "Stephen's In The Sky" already clearly defines the stylistic standards that we will find in the rest of the work. Apart from some exceptions, such as the "molkian" inflections of the hyper-melodic "Things Fall Apart" or the two final slow tracks ("Peaches From Spain" and "Who Could I Be?", the latter being the only song that can be approached to certain British pop styles), Smith's voice becomes scratchy and nervous but always far from certain "dangerous" Cobain-like affinities (exemplary is the splendid power ballad "Ordinarily Me"). When the band alternates catchy and engaging verses with choruses pushed to the maximum, the result is even exhilarating ("No Happy"). The few negative notes are reduced to a barely concealed and inappropriate desire to overdo it, see the confused "Numerical" and "Green Disaster Twice", or the excessive "mimicry" of other bands (in "Lethargy", they move from Ash to more angry Nirvana in the blink of an eye). In "Build High, Tear Low" they seem like less commercial Foo Fighters than the original, while "Sage Waits" owes a lot to the highly favored atmospheres created in their time by Radiohead's "The Bends" version.
In nine years of activity, Serafin (due to legal issues caused by Warner Bros's merger of their old label Taste Media) have managed to release a follow-up to "No Push Collide" ("To The Teeth") only in 2007, unfortunately obtaining very little visibility.
We hope they can make a comeback in the future, they truly deserve it.
Key tracks: "Stephen's In The Sky", "Things Fall Apart", "No Happy", "Ordinarily Me"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Day by Day (03:04)
Just past my window,
She dances real slow,
Under the seam
Is a dream, is a dream.
There's something obscene,
In a dream, in a dream.
You make my lungs sweat,
My liquid skin set,
Under the seam
Is a dream, is a dream.
There's something obscene,
In a dream, in a dream.
Just like my rainbow,
She likes it real slow,
Under the seam
Is a dream, is a dream.
There's something obscene,
In a dream, in a dream.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
My pores are open,
To every motion,
Under the seam
Is a dream, is a dream.
There's something obscene
In a dream, in a dream.
Her naked entrance
To naked violence,
Under the seam
Is a dream, is a dream.
There's something obscene,
In a dream, in a dream.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
I've always wanted to be in you.
I've always wanted to be in you.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
You wake up, you go down,
There's something in between,
Day by day.
04 No Happy (04:15)
Sunday morning
a revelation
I saw myself as
my own salvation
I banged my head against
the brick wall and
I turned around it was him
He said gently now
"Who is it? Your daddy?"
And I said
"I did not know, but sadly
Make a sound and make it loud
With the lightness of a cloud
Write a song about today
There is nothing more to say."
He said
"I thought that nothing matterred
Thats why my perception is in tatters
Come with me and I'll show you something
Come with me and you'll see
Look over there where that bird is standing"
And I sat next to the one thats landing
"That bird knows how good it feels
To exist beneith the wheels
Of a tidal wave of pain
And his happiness will gain."
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
Go and get no happy
I thank you men
now I feel much better
Now that Im aware
of my nature
'Cause before I was sick in the head
Now it could be your own
Before you go
can I ask one more thing?
He said "yes"
as he started yawning
"How can I feel morally rich
when I live inside a bitch?
And the truth is so far down
that its easy to let it drown?"
He said "Listen to yourself
You sound just like someone else
If you really feel this way
Why dont you end it today?"
((Chorus))
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