Sights & Sounds is hard to lump into a musical box because the alternative rock group from Canada have their fingers in so many styles. Metal, punk, atmospheric rock its all there and achieved so well on their debut album Monolith. The newest project of Comeback Kids Andrew Neufeld and featuring members of Sick City and iconic '90s metalcore group Figure Four (for whom Neufeld was also a member), Sights & Sounds has been in the works for the last three years.

We wanted Sights & Sounds to be out there and we wanted to be a band that is always changing, says Neufeld. That aspect of the band works for us and against us in a way: the positives are that we can do whatever we want with our songs and let the songs breathe and give them these atmospheric elements. The negatives are that there is no genre for our band and theres not really any place for us anywhere. We get thrown on weird bills with metal bands, and most of the time we will end up either being too heavy or too light for the bands we are playing with, but its ok, because we wanted Monolith to be eclectic and I think we achieved that.

Having four members live on different sides of Canada gives shape to a fairly unusual writing and recording experience. Sights & Sounds would get together whenever they could, writing music for a week straight before heading off to their respective lives again. Once they were ready to record, they went with none other than one of metals most eccentric and adored producers, Strapping Young Lads Devin Townsend.

It was definitely the most unique writing experience I have ever had. We have been writing these songs ever since we started being a band there are some songs on here that we worked on for two years and couldnt get them right, before eventually we figured them out before recording, Neufeld says.

Given the bands penchant for embracing many styles of alternative music on their debut (except you wont find any ska or country on there, jokes Neufeld), it was also an opportunity for singer to really experiment with his lyric writing.

We all live very transient lifestyles, me especially: Im basically homeless, I live out of a storage unit and Im on tour all the time. Ive been travelling like that for ten years so Monolith is all about saying hello and goodbye and the ins and outs of that lifestyle. Lyrically its a travelling record, but we also wanted Monolith to be an album for someone to listen to when theyre travelling.

Listening to Sights & Sounds is a journey in itself, and on the back of an album such as Monolith the band will indeed go far. How far is anyones guess, but the album title says it all for itself: Monolith is a huge debut for a band still in its formative years.

MONOLITH is out now through Smallman/Stomp.

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