It's unfortunate that
Seconds can so easily be summed up with a
Lush-meets-
Stereolab reference, because it does seem that the record adds something interesting to these conventions. Yes, the album's droning instrumentation alternately resembles
Mars Audiac Quintet-era
Stereolab,
Emperor Tomato Ketchup-era
Stereolab, and
Split-era
Lush, and the vocal arrangements are practically pulled straight from the interplay between Laeticia Sadier and
Mary Hansen (or, alternately,
Miki Berenyi and Emma Andersen), but
Seely does a decent enough job with this sound that it's difficult to blame them for being too derivative. The only real problem presents itself when the band moves into smooth, danceable territory that seems somewhat hackneyed; there's always the sense that
Seely can't create perfect new worlds of sound the way
Stereolab can, but their attempts are about as interesting as those of fellow
Lab followers
Flowchart.