The Sandwitches - Mrs. Jones' Cookies

The Sandwitches are back with their second LP release, Mrs. Jones’ Cookies. It follows on from last year’s EP Duck, Duck, Goose! The album has already been listed as the top album of 2011 by EverybodyTaste.

As there is no real information about the band anywhere, I thought I’d start with last year’s EP. It has a very haunting sound, a lot of reverb has been driven into each layers, especially the vocals. The vocals in particular have strong similarities to Dido, though unlike Dido, The Sandwitches’ music doesn’t make me fall asleep. Infact, there’s no emotion given for this EP, it attempts to have this “mysterious aura” to it but to me it’s just…playing.

In The Garden starts off Mrs. Jones’ Cookies with a timid yet crunchy guitar that unfortunately dissipates once the witch like howls finish and the similar reverb heavy vocals begin. The vocals are backed up to give a more ominous feeling to the tracks but it becomes stale pretty quick, there is no change of tone or pitch to bring an extra element to the song, so sadly, the album begins in a very dull fashion.

Second track Summer of Love fortunately contains some excitement and energy to it. The guitar rhythm is very upbeat and suits its summer theme quite well, and the inclusion of a male vocal really allows it to sound a lot more human, rather than mechanically riddled with effects. The drums also introduce themselves with occasional flurries which tragically get ignored by the rest of the instruments, making it kind of pointless.

The rest of the tracks really bring no real sense of individuality to them, they follow the same “mysterious” nature, with vocals that are often too airy, and the instruments are a little too quiet to really create any impact to them. I can hear that there is electric guitar playing on Black Rider, but like the EP, it does not produce any kind of reaction from me.

Overall, with a name like The Sandwitches, and releases such as Duck, Duck, Goose! And Mrs. Jones’ Cookies, I expected this band to have a much more fun, up tempo and original sound. However, this is not the case, the album is the same tempo throughout, there is little to no variation present at all, and all of the somewhat exciting moments during songs always fall flat. I think The ‘Witches had the potential to produce a smoking great potion, but they just needed to add a bit more spice to their cauldron.

5/10