Wounded Soldier might be a concept album of sorts since its lyrical compositions are full of themes dealing with the experiences of the brother of Broadcast Sea's vocalist and guitarist, Sterling Wilson, while he serves time as a soldier in Iraq. So right off the bat, Broadcast Sea might present one heavy album. Even though the band is not generally what can be considered a heavy band, Broadcast Sea actually is more of an "indie rock" band with angular guitar riffs.
To be completely honest, "We're a Dying Breed" immediately shocks me; the song contains a nasty groove and the type of guitars that bring to mind some DC punk influences while the shouted vocals further ingratiate Broadcast Sea to these influences. This glaring nod to DC (particularly that of say Hoover) is prevalent throughout Wounded Soldier, but one thing that bothers me is the lack of dynamics in the production of the album; everything seems pushed to up to the same level which causes much of the instrumentation to blend together too much, particularly the guitars and bass. The songwriting itself plays with the soft loud dynamic and definite emotional build ups, but the volume does not reflect well these effects due to the production like in the build up of "I've Seen Better." "Turning Heads" contains some excellent moments, and Broadcast Sea use some feedbacking guitars to nice effect while the angular guitars and rock solid rhythms sound good. The bouncing rhythm and bass sound present in "The News Came This Morning" completely make the song; the dual guitars actually play off each other rather well on the track as well, and at times the vocals remind me a bit of the vocals of These Arms Are Snakes (their vocalist is Steve Snere).
With better production, Broadcast Sea's Wounded Soldier could possibly make a much more significant impact on listeners, at times the songwriting outshines the production values to show some stellar moments. The compositions on the album really do the band credit and another album might be worth hearing from Broadcast Sea. Wounded Soldier really is not what I initially thought it would be as the lyrical content did not overburden the record and instead allows the album to flow fairly well.
