Over the course of their releases, Serene's sound would progress from softer-edged midwest emo towards a more polished indie rock aesthetic. Serene had a really spacy, layered sound with buried vocals and a dreamy feeling. The album cover for the first two releases is a perfect summation of the sound.
Their discography is interesting in that it's a bit hard to classify their first album. Beggars of the Sea was released in 2000 on Jeremy Enigk's Lewis Hollow, which is essentially his personal label. It's a full album and polished enough, especially by emo standards, but the band treated it like a demo. I came across it on Ebay being sold by someone who had bought it in a lot of CDs submitted for consideration to Christian rock label Bulletproof Music, and when later signed to Arena Rock, Serene rerecorded most of the songs on Beggars for their self-titled release. The second LP, Serene, is comprised mainly of songs from the first album in new versions, though three songs didn't make the cut (the hidden track was named "Internationals" when rerecorded). The band also had a split release but both songs from it appear on the album, though I'd be curious to know if they appear in their original, Beggars of the Sea incarnation or the versions for the S/T. 2004's The Oak Land EP is the band's last full release, barring a track that ended up on a 2007 compilation. For this release, the band changed their name to Serene UK, and their sound is changed as well. There's a little midwest emo left at this point, but not a whole lot.
On the whole, Beggars of the Sea is my favorite Serene release. It has a raw sound and energy that the later releases lack, even including some shouting that was dropped in the rerecording. The songs that are missing from the second record are good ones, too, although "shy and withdrawn" would find its way to a comp. That said, you can't go wrong with Serene either. The sheer ambience of that album is so lush and easy to get lost in.
