Seaway has returned with their brand new full-length album, Fresh Produce. Released on Pure Noise Records, the 13-song track listing features three covers, six brand new songs and four reworkings of previously released tracks.
Opening up the album are “Pleasures” and “Blur”, two well-written pop-centric tracks that fit in greatly with Seaway’s discography. With a foot-tapping hook and cleverly written lyrics that will play on a loop in your head after the first listen, “Pleasures” is the perfect upbeat track to open up the whole release, giving fans a taste on what to expect from the other twelve songs.
“Blur” is one of the most well-written songs Seaway has released over the years, managing to tell a detailed story about a struggling relationship in a four-minute track. With a clever song structure that is repetitive, but still manages to build on itself, the verses and choruses greatly build up to the turning point of the story, the bridge, with the lyrics: “I won’t blame you if you wanna turn around / I won’t blame you, it’s a long way down / Cut me off tonight / I won’t blame you”. Overall, it’s quality Seaway writing at its best and is definitely a track that would be entertaining to see live.
Tracks three through six on Fresh Produce are all reworked tunes that have been released on previous Seaway records. The first one is an acoustic arrangement of “Something Wonderful”, a fan-favorite track off of 2017’s Vacation. It’s a rather simple rework of the track, but allows for the relatable and catchy lyrics about a blossoming relationship to take the forefront, showcasing the band’s writing ability and also the vocal capabilities of vocalists Ryan Locke and Patrick Carleton.
The most interesting reworking on Fresh Produce, as well as the track fans will probably be the most excited about, is their stripped-down mash-up of “Slam”, off of 2015’s Colour Blind, and “Shy Guys”, off of 2013’s Hoser. “Slam / Shy Guys” presents each song in a completely different light, eliminating the heavy guitars and poppy percussion that drove each track. Focusing on the lyrics each song presents, “Slam / Shy Guys” tells the story of a guy who is too shy to approach a girl he has feelings for, injecting a more emotional moment on Fresh Produce. While the other songs reworked for this album are mostly acoustic breakdowns that are still very well done, Seaway took two songs from their history and essentially created a brand new track out of it. Innovatively mashing the lyrics together and setting the whole song up with acoustic and ambient guitar chords, the echoing and overlaying of the vocals help to create one of the most refreshing songs on the whole album and one that fans will be talking about.
Fresh Produce also features three covers, “Just What I Needed” (The Cars), “Hand In My Pocket” (Alanis Morissette) and “Closer” (The Chainsmokers). While the band probably had a great time recording and releasing these covers and many fans will be stoked to hear their favorite band cover some of their favorite songs, the covers really didn’t seem needed for this album. As their fourth studio release as a band, covering songs by other artists at this point in their career doesn’t seem entirely beneficial, the songs working better as bonus tracks than anything else. While each cover keeps the integrity of the original releases, the inclusion of them on Fresh Produce just doesn’t seem necessary, taking up spots Seaway could have used for quality original material we all know they are capable of creating.
The remaining tracks on the release are all brand new, each of them telling different stories of their own. “Your Best Friend” is reminiscent of the sound we heard of 2015’s Colour Blind. With poppy lyrics about having feelings for your girlfriend’s best friend and clever guitar breakdowns, this is a track that is quintessentially Seaway and fits in greatly with their previous releases.
“Alberta” is probably the strongest song on the entire record. With detailed lyrics about being led on by someone, it has a simple composition of repetitive guitar riffs and percussion, but still presents a relatable song fans can identify with. Featuring more rock elements than typical Seaway songs, it presents a different type of sound fans haven’t heard from the band in a long time, offering a breath of fresh air on the album that is filled with infectious pop anthems.
Overall, Fresh Produce is another great release from the Canadian band. Although some fans may be wishing there were more new original tracks on the release, their well-thought-out and quality reworkings of “Something Wonderful”, “40 Over”, “Lula” and “Slam / Shy Guys” present something new fans haven’t heard before, these alternative versions having potential to become more favorited by listeners than the originals.
If one thing is clear about Fresh Produce, it is that Seaway is finally comfortable in their sound and are able to create tracks that fit in great with their past releases while still incorporating new elements and building on their sound. While it could have done without the cover tracks, Fresh Produce is another album Seaway can be proud of, this new batch of songs having the ability to please new fans and intrigue listeners that may just be discovering them for the first time.
