The Stills - Being Here

Montreal’s The Stills are treading awfully lightly on Coldplay/U2 arena-rock earnestness on their new single, and that isn’t a good thing, especially from a band that is looking to shake off the universally dismal reviews of their second record with a third record, ‘Oceans Will Rise,’ that is being touted as a return to form. The song features a guitar riff that sounds just like one the Edge would play while tuning his guitar in preparation to play a song that sounds just like ‘Being Here.’ It’s tough to know who’s copying whose style these days, but whatever the case may be, fans of original sounding music are suffering through these types of singles more and more lately.

The song is not entirely unlistenable, and features a memorable, albeit innocuous chorus, but it just gives the listener the sense that they’ve heard it somewhere before. It’s also such an obviously safe song to choose as the first single that it makes you cringe. Which is a shame, because the album actually is quite decent in spots, certainly stronger than this single indicates. And that safe approach is why radio is insignificant and inconsequential these days, because one after another, these types of harmless singles are played, ad nauseam, until you are convinced you might just like the song after all. Don’t forget that familiarity breeds contempt, and this type of song is unfortunately as familiar as they come.