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With a lilting west coast jangle that places them in a seventies Laurel Canyon setting, the Kidderminster formed The Murmur forge a sound closely informed by The Byrds, Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead. Singer, Kevin Donaldson though sings in a voice that's a dead ringer for Soul Asylums Dave Pirner, a style that suits the acoustic summery vibes of the songs on offer here.
MEASURING THE RAIN sets the tone of what's to come, a style of song that the band barely deviate from over the entire album. Its all softly strummed acoustic guitars, jangly Rickenbacker guitar lines, steady drum beats, simple basslines and sugary melodic vocals. REASONING AND RHYME sounds like it could easily have been lifted from a Byrds album, the pop classicism of the song-writing shining through with blinding brightness that treads a fine line between paying tribute to your influences and pastiche, though its a trick that Oasis managed to pull off with aplomb so good luck to them.
The folkier overtones running through MISS MUNDANE, pits this closer to Bob Dylan than anything else especially as a harmonica chimes in towards the end, while ONE SUMMER WITH MONICA sees The Murmur rocking out in a Beatles in Hamburg kind of way as blues guitar riffs play under the rougher edged singing style. Title track, VIETNAM MORNING, again plays up the gentle acoustics and ringing guitar lines that seems to define their sound.
Hummable choruses and catchy hooks ensure things never slide into dullness though, and keep things well and truly rooted in those summery vibes.
BROUGHT UP ON BABE RUTH, crams into its two minute duration everything you really need in a pop song - as catchy melodies, nagging riffs and a sweetly ringing guitar solo are pretty much the history of guitar pop distilled down to its purest form and are presented here as a non-fat treat for your senses.
While ST VINCENT'S NEW YORK sounds like Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues and The Beatles Helter Skelter shoved in a blender and thrown out via a raft of surreal lyricism and bizarre imagery, its a blend that works hinting at some kind of epic psychedelic masterstroke that The Murmur started working on before deciding to fit it all into another three minute pop song.
Like The Thrills or Hal, The Murmur are a UK band looking towards seventies west coast America for their sound. This is an album of songs that could have been long lost Byrds tracks or American Beauty era Grateful Dead out takes, and while there's a certain sense of unoriginality in that there's also a larger sense that these are simply great pop songs that deserve to be heard.
There is a downside in that the majority of these songs do tread an extremely similar path, leaving a record that ends up sounding pretty samey and flat towards the end, which is a shame as with a more varied scope you feel that this is a band that could really shine. VIETNAM MORNING is a record that's good rather than great, with a promise rather than a fully fledged vision but its a promise that's sitting precariously close to great things.

The band was formed in 1997 while three of the current line up were at college in their hometown of Kidderminster. The band played as a three piece until 2002 when James joined the band.
In the early years the band reached the final of the three local band of the year competitions. Since the release of the last demo THE CENTRE PAGES, the band has built up a following up and down the UK including airplay on BBC Hereford & Worcester and Kerrang Radio along with various college stations (interviews and live sets). The response from the release was so strong that over 1000 CD's have been sold and over 2,500 hits have been made on the bands website. The release also attracted a nomination from local convert Robert Plant, for the Clifford T Ward, Songwriting competition. SOUL SEARCH FOR UTAH finished 3rd out of over 2000 entrants nationwide. This accumulated with the band supporting Robert Plant at the Kidderminster Town Hall in March 2005.
The band cite their influences as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Stone Roses, Oasis and The Beatles. The bands genre is somewhere between indie and folk rock.
The band have recently recorded a new album entitled VIETNAM MORNING. It is this album that the band plan on making their mark with the record industry. We already have over 200 pre-orders for the album. They have also recently launched a brand new re-designed website to coincide with the album launch.
Current plans for the band are to perform a number of live gigs in and around Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham with the plan to build up a larger following across the UK. They are looking to find a record company that will help them get noticed and feel that they have a mass market appeal.

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