Upwelling

New York City’s the Upwelling are a band who want fame so bad they can taste it. And they’re getting some help along the way to make their dreams come true — Virgin Megastores just made this unsigned band part of a "Virgin Recommends” promotion which should give the band a lot more exposure. The problem is that if the Upwelling begin to believe their self-created hype then they’ll never be able to follow up this five-song EP because it would have to be the pinnacle of their collective musical careers. And the truth is that the only remarkable thing about the Upwelling is how remarkably ordinary they are. They’d like to make you think that their list of influences include Spiritualized, the Police, and Depeche Mode, but the only name they make reference to that appears to be true is Pink Floyd. Their music tries to have that vast, swirling sound, much beloved by prog-rockers, but these five songs are so average and forgettable that they might even be able to survive this surge of interest as an unsigned act.