Building, B-Sides and the School of Seven Bells

CINCINNATI – It has been quite a trip for Brooklyn’s School of Seven Bells.  Following the September, 2010, departure of keyboardist Claudia, twin sister of lead vocalist Alejandra (Alley) Deheza, the now-duo this year released their third, and arguably strongest, effort to date – Ghostory.  I caught up with Alley and guitarist Benjamin Curtis following School of Seven Bells’ MidPoint Summer Series performance last Friday on Cincinnati’s Fountain Square.

The new album is a pop Janus:  written around a unifying theme, but laden with potential singles.  The underlying story revolves around a girl named Lafaye; a lifetime of unpleasant memories, disappointments, regrets are ghosts which surround her.  One wonders where Lafaye’s sense of loss ends and the band’s begins; somehow, the group has taken a loss and used it as a springboard.   By their own account, things are better this way.

“I think it’s the way that people perceive us – in my mind anyway,” said Deheza.  “The records before [Ghostory] were mainly Ben and I anyways.  We were always the main songwriters, so we were fortunate.  We were already in that habit, instead of having to completely reconfigure what we were doing.  I think it was more having to present it in a different way to the fans and people who had gotten used to seeing . . . “  She paused, looked down at the table, then looked back up – resolved.

Alejandra “Alley” Deheza

“You know there’s something really charming and romantic about siblings in a band, and I totally understand that.  I mean, I’m smitten by it, too,” Deheza smiled.  “So I think for us, it was more presenting it in a way that wouldn’t be as shocking as it probably was to a lot of people.  But as far as creatively, I think the energy in a band is really important.  When everybody’s there that wants to be there, it’s the best thing that could happen to anybody.  Everyone’s happy now, so it’s better than ever.”

I turned to Curtis.  Did he feel there was tension prior to Claudia leaving?

“Obviously,” he said with a wry smile.  “She quit.”  Deheza looked at him and they laughed, maybe a little nervously.  They have clearly moved on from whatever unseen drama came before.

“We’re so happy making music right now,” Curtis said, with Deheza nodding her agreement.  “I think we’ve never really been inspired more to make this thing work and last.  We’ve never had more energy for it than we do right now.  We were writing so much – we’re just trying to find a way to do everything that we can do whenever we want to do it.”

I asked Deheza what that meant.

“Put out music whenever we want, you know, not have to wait for any schedule or anything like that.  I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out, is a way for us to be able to do that ourselves and not have to ask anybody, you know?”

School of Seven Bells’ late efforts have been noticeably engaging.  In the course of producing my radio show and sourcing new tracks, I inevitably share impressions with peers.  A DJ acquaintance, Matt Barker (host of “Totally Wired” on Juice 107.2 FM in Brighton, UK), and I find ourselves largely in agreement:  many of School of Seven Bells’ recent B-side releases have been strong in their own right.  I was flabbergasted that “Love from a Stone,” backing their “Lafaye” single, wasn’t included on the album.  The same might be said of “When She Was Me,” the alternate track on their Record Store Day 2012 Siouxsie and the Banshees cover, “Kiss Them for Me.”  I asked Curtis and Deheza who decides which tracks are released how.

“It’s funny, because we never have songs that we think are going to be a B-side or anything,” intimated Deheza.  “We’re excited to write another one.”

Benjamin Curtis

Curtis half-shrugged and smiled.  “The way we feel about it, in this digital age, every mp3 is just as available as any [other], and they exist forever.  It’s not like a limited pressing.  I feel like every song’s gonna have its day between now and infinity, so we don’t really stress [about] what side of the record it’s going to be on.

“It’s more a function of time,” he said.  “I think the real quality that we have is we really don’t have the energy to finish something we don’t like or something we don’t think is great.”

“Yes.”  Deheza nodded.  “Yes.”

Curtis continued.

“I don’t know how people write songs that they know are not as good as the last song they write.  Our favorite song that we’ve written is always the last song we’ve written, and it’s been that way since we started writing together.”

So their latest favorite song is . . . ?  Deheza and Curtis shared a tentative grin.

“Well, we have a new . . . ,” she trailed.  I have them on the spot.

“There’s a song called ‘Ablaze’ that no one’s heard yet.  We have a bit of a backlog.  It’s gonna be a B-side.”  Curtis looked at Deheza; they giggled.  “It’s headed in that direction.  Lots more B-sides.  It’s gonna be all B-sides from here on out.”

Favorites of 2012 (So far…)

So yeah, it’s THAT time, when music blogs start cranking out the “best” records so far. Since the term “best” is pretty subjective, I’m just gonna post the stuff I’ve been enjoying so far and hope you check some of them out. Here they are in no particular order.
	Stay Ahead of the Weather / The Wonder Years – Punk is Dead. Get a Job. : Can I put a 6″ split with only 2 songs on here? Yes I can, especially when one of those songs is from SAOTW. I’ll be honest, I’m only interested in the SAOTW track “No Money, Mo Problems” here. It’s another fantastic track from the elusive supergroup. The Wonder Years are ok too.
	No Trigger – Tycoon : I can’t say there’s anything groundbreaking here, but what is here is a solid, breakneck speed punk album. Catchy melodies and blistering guitar work make this a repeat listen for me. It’s the kind of album that has you pushing 90 on the highway without knowing it.
	The Fake Boys – Pig Factory : The Fake Boys are tired of all the stupidity in the music industry today and they don’t care who knows. This album is grungey, melodic, and pure passion. This may be my favorite of the year.
	Daytrader – Twelve Years : I was pretty critical of this album at first. It wasn’t what I was expecting out of the band after their “Last Days of Rome”ep and their demo 7″. Then I realized that they hadn’t really changed their style, we were just getting more of them than I was used to. The longer format has given Daytrader room to stretch their legs and give listeners a larger sample of their work. After a few listens it clicked and I really started to enjoy the album.
	The Tower and the Fool – How Long : To be honest, when I first heard these guys I didn’t like it. Then I took the time to listen to the whole album and I was pulled in. Most songs are about heartbreak (I don’t know what will happen if they fall in love) or loss. This is just solid and sincere song-writing.
	Make Do and Mend – Everything You Ever Loved : After a controversial (to fans at least) signing to Rise Records, MDAM‘s highly anticipated follow-up to “End Measured Mile” is finally out. In my opinion it absolutely does not disappoint. If “End Measured Mile” is a wrecking ball, smashing everything in its path, then “Everything You Ever Loved” is a series of precision dynamite explosions. This album hits all the right notes.
	Red Collar – Welcome Home : Red Collar is out of left field for me. I wouldn’t normally have gotten into these guys on my own but I can’t deny anything Tiny Engines releases. Passionate songs about growing up and working in America.
	State Lines – State Lines EP : State Lines is another release by Tiny Engines. This EP is just about perfect, short, sweet and to the point.
	Mixtapes – Even on the Worst Nights : Probably my most anticipated release this year. It’s classic Mixtapes just refined and a little more mature. Part of me feels like it would be better if some of these songs were split between three 7″ ep’s. But what do I know? It’s still a fun album and I’ll take as much from them as I can get.
	Japandroids – Celebration Rock : This album came out of nowhere and floored me. It’s everything I hoped their follow up to “Post Nothing” would be. Pretty much every song is an anthem, the type that leaves you with no voice the day after the show. This gem will be on a LOT of year end lists this year.
I know there’s probably something I’m forgetting and I’ll kick myself later for missing it. Maybe they’ll make it into a year end list of some sort.

Great Lake Swimmers Drift into Cincinnati This Saturday

Canadian Indie-Folk Artists Extraordinaire to Play at the Taft Theater

 

CINCINNATI – If you’ve heard their 2003 self-titled debut, or Bodies and Minds (2005), you know.  Great Lake Swimmers are masters of crafted, folk lullaby.  Known as much for their music as for their idiosyncratic choices of remote recording locations — abandoned grain silos, empty churches and island castles — on their previous records, their latest album, New Wild Everywhere (now out on Nettwerk) represents a milestone change — they recorded it (gasp!) in a traditional sound studio.

“We had a really great run with the last record,” said Tony Dekker, GLS’ cornerstone and primary songwriter, referring to 2009′s Lost Channels.  “I think we were all suffering after the tour.  We took some time to do a little bit of a healthy break.”

In the meantime, the Swimmers kept busy.  Dekker worked on a project with Canada’s National Parks, and the now-expanded touring band produced an instrumental soundtrack for One in a Thousand, an eBook about Lake Ontario’s Thousand Islands by photographer Ian Coristine and writer Donna Walsh Inglehart.  The

New Wild Everywhere features more layered instrumentation and smooth production — it feels more alt-country and polished than GLS’ earlier releases.  Miranda Mulholland’s violin and backing vocals are brought forward and seamlessly interwoven with Dekker’s high, soothing notes; Greg Millson’s percussion work is more evident.  Producer Andy Magoffin brings a warmer mix.  The songs are generally more uptempo, but there are the expected waltz-time moments inherent to Dekker’s body of work.  For those who have never heard the Swimmers before, it is an imminently accessible, well-crafted indie-folk installment.  For the Olde Guarde (like me), a deluxe edition featuring stripped-down demo versions of most of the new songs satisfies better than Snickers on a Sunday.  Overall, it seems more collaborative, like more fingers are in the compositional pie.

“I still bring finished songs to the band.  I write all my songs for acoustic guitar and vocals.  And then, it sort of undergoes these really wide-ranging transformations when I get them involved with it.  As far as the layering, they do – they have added a lot more,” Dekker explained.  “We were all present the whole time in the studio.  It wasn’t like the bass player [Bret Higgins] comes in and plays his tunes and that’s it.  Everyone was there for the whole process.  So it did feel like there was a more collaborative spirit, at least in the arrangement.”

Hearing Great Lake Swimmers live is an arresting experience — they exhibit a concentrated musicianship uncommon to twentysomething neo-folk bands.  They live in their songs; Dekker seems to be able to go to a place while singing that is mysterious and emotionally excrutiating, and to readily channel that depth of feeling into his singing.  But, as LeVar Burton so aptly pointed out in countless episodes of Reading Rainbow — you don’t have to take my word for it.  They’ll be here.  This Saturday.

“It’s been a while since we played in Ohio and in particular the Cincinnati area,” said Dekker.  “We’re really looking forward to it.”

—-

Upcoming Show:

Great Lake Swimmers, with Daniel Martin Moore

Saturday, 06/23/12, 8 pm door / 9 pm show

Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio

$10 advance / $13 door

 

Great Lake Swimmers are:

Tony Dekker — Guitar, Lead Vocals

Erik Arensen –Banjo, Guitar

Miranda Mulholland — Backing Vocal, Violin

Bret Higgins — Upright Bass

Greg Millson –Percussion

 

More Info:

www.greatlakeswimmers.com

… my only sincere plague.

by jaysen brockman

Releases like this really make me start to question myself and everything I know as “true.” I say that, because I know I shouldn’t like it. It’s a genre that has become quite laughable in recent years, and may as well be called “Fat-Kid-Hot-Topic-Mall-Metal.” The funny thing is that I said the exact same thing when the Zombies EP was released. Perhaps, it’s just the new direction that this Dayton, Ohio-based sextet are taking. If that IS the case, I’m perfectly fine with it. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking, because it’s not here. In fact, it’s far from it. But, what they do (very well, I might add) is breathe life back in to what could have been a “2 full-length” career… And they do it with an exclamation point. It seems this record was built on the foundation of what made the Zombies EP a great release. Which is remove any trace of the awful pop-punk infused pseudo-metal they were purveying previously.

I’ve Gotta Take My Grab At Something Great…

Photo: Mitchell Wojcik

By jared william bowers

Let’s talk about the new Polar Bear Club album, Clash. Battle. Guilt. Pride. shall we? But we’re going to talk about a few other things, too. If that’s alright with you, of course.

We’re at the beginning, maybe even in the middle, of a renaissance of sorts. I sometimes wonder if those younger than me (and a lot of you would qualify as such) realize just what we’re in the midst of. There was a period where things were looking grim. It was a bleak, auto-tuned, disturbingly clone-like wave of boring sameness, and it was bearing down on us in the worst way. The past few years, though, have brought us back from the brink. Bands like Polar Bear Club have, in my opinion, helped save and guide us back from that dark time. With their first full-length, Sometimes Things Just Disappear, we were given an album that refused to hold anything back. It was heavy, but it wasn’t hardcore. It was melodic, but it wasn’t pop. It was sincere, emotional. Resonant. They followed up Sometimes… with a cleaner, but no less ambitiously genre defiant effort, Chasing Hamburg. With a focus on tighter songwriting and a more pristine soundscape, what it lacked in immediately discernable raw energy, it more than made up for with overwhelmingly great songwriting, musically and lyrically.

Album Review: August Burns Red – Leveler

I think it goes without saying (even though I’m saying it…) that if you’ve heard and enjoyed an August Burns Red album, then you’re going to enjoy Leveler. While there are new elements to be heard and applauded throughout, Leveler is very much the next logical step in the progression of a band that started out way ahead of everyone else.

Like a lot of fans involved in any facet of our independent music scene, I lead a sort of sonic double life. While my preferences tend to lean more toward the more melodic (or in some cases, a-melodic) Indie Rock side of the spectrum, I find myself regularly delving in to some of the last decade’s most influential, passionate, and talented Hardcore bands. It took me a while to understand that music is multi-faceted – every genre is simply another side of an infinitely complex coin. When we’re younger, we often find ourselves pledging foolish allegiances to one style of music or another, and use that define our actions, clothing, and attitudes. What we fail to realize is that a majority of the bands making music within our genre’s of choice are, quite simply, fans of music- not just Hardcore, or Metal, or Indie, or Hip-Hop. In talking with Matt Greiner, drummer and founding member of August Burns Red, we discussed bands and albums that he was listening to at the moment – his first suggestion? – Fleet Foxes. We then talked about our mutual adoration of Christian post-everything band mewithoutYou. It was with that information in mind that I went in to listening to Leveler for the first time, allowing me the chance to think of August Burns Red as something other than a talented, well thought out, technically proficient Metal/Hardcore band.

Album Review: Foster The People – Torches

For as long as I can remember, I’ve attached my favorite artists and albums to the seasons of the year.  Third Eye Blind has always meant autumn.  Boyz II Men reminds me of snowy winter days.  Copeland is best heard on rainy spring days.  It’s less to do with the music itself and more about the time period I discovered the artist and listened to them the most – the artist literally ends up providing the soundtrack to my memories.  With that in mind, Foster The People really couldn’t have picked a better time than the beginning of summer to release their first full-length album.

If you’ve not heard of Foster The People before, you’re not alone.  Though the band has been together since October 2009, almost no record of their existence can be found via Google prior to 2011.  They just about came out of nowhere, bursting onto the indie dance/pop scene early this year with their three song self-titled EP, which contained the hits “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Helena Beat”.   But with Torches, released yesterday on Sony Music, their relatively obscure status is about to change.

Torches is, in short, the perfect album for sunny summer days.  Whether you’re driving down the highway or partying with your friends, you’ll be dancing, singing, and nodding along to its catchy beats for weeks.

The album begins with the most logical introduction, the two songs for which Foster The People is best known – “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Helena Beat”.  But on track three, the band takes a sharp turn, opening “Call It What You Want” with a funky, jazzy piano melody.  It’s as if the band was trying to say, “We know you love the easy, breezy, dancey stuff.  We’re great at that.  But check out what else we can do while we’re at it.”  Track four, “Don’t Stop (Color On The Walls)”, takes another turn with an acoustic guitar melody, veering into territory reminiscent of Broken Bells.  Track five, “Waste”, is one of my favorites on the album thanks to the thumping bass and the mildly haunting undertones.  At the halfway point of the album, “I Would Do Anything”, the beat slows down a bit for a ballad-like take on the dance sound.  Lead vocalist Mark Foster croons, “Ooh la la I’m fallin’ in love/and it’s better this time than ever before” over a lazy-river melody.  The tempo picks back up with “Houdini”, the third song on the album taken from the earlier EP.  ”Life On The Nickel” maintains the pace, sticking in your brain with the chorus, “Ooh yeah I’m awesome, awesome, awesome.”

Torches is an overwhelmingly upbeat, fun album – both in lyrical content and musically.  There isn’t a single song on it that’s skippable.  It definitely deserves a permanent home in your summer playlist.  I know it’ll be soundtracking mine.

Album Review: Becoming The Archetype – Celestial Completion

I genuinely love being caught off-guard by a band, or by an album – or, in this case, both. There’s something almost comforting about the uncomfortable excitement of not quite knowing what to expect. Sure, you have your preconceived notions of what the band should be – you see a name, a logo, a press photo. You start to put those things together to form an opinion based solely on surface, entirely inconsequential details. You read the words “Christian Metal,” and yeah, you cringe, and you think to yourself, Okay, another one… Here we go. And it’s no secret that if you’re involved with a site like ours, you’re also involved with bands and their PR people. It’s simply the way it works. But, more often than not there’s a reason you get emails excitedly detailing the release of a new album – there’s a sincere, honest excitement behind it. The best part? Celestial Completion is absolutely an album worth getting excited about.

With Becoming The Archetype, I have to express a total ignorance of the band prior to hearing what could very well be one of the best Metal/Hardcore releases of the year. It’s a name I was familiar with – but, as illustrated above, I had my own rather flimsily held belief that this was a band I simply would not enjoy. I’m notoriously picky when it comes to the heavy music I listen to – I have no choice but to be, considering the ubiquitous nature of heavy music in today’s independent scene. With Celestial Completion, the band has upped their game – and will consequentially up the game of progressive metal bands, Christian or not, from here on out – and brought to life a living, breathing, entirely organic representation of what progress should be, and just how far it can be taken. With Jason Wisdom on bass and providing a majority of the band’s vocals, Count Seth on guitar, keyboard, and vocals, Daniel Galley on guitar and vocals, and Duck on drums, Becoming The Archetype have put together an album a band of 10 would be hard-pressed to create. The angelic, choir filled opener “The Resonant Frequency of Flesh” melds in to the delightfully schizophrenic “The Magnetic Sky,” managing to showcase a lot of what they do best in around 6 total minutes – great melody mixed with varied vocals (ranging from throaty growls to squealing screams to clean, calm vocals), adventurous hardcore breakdowns and twitchy guitar lines. The following track, “Internal Illumination” starts heavy and stays that way – the start/stop pace of the track is immensely satisfying, giving things a Meshuggah vibe before barreling in to intensely sludgy breakdowns to end the song in an increasingly apocalyptic fashion. The haunting keys of “Path of the Beam” mixed with the oddly bright chorus (as well as surprising, brilliantly placed gang vocals) change the pace just enough to keep things from getting too bogged down – and the varied vocal and guitar theatrics give the track a dynamic feel as it moves from punishing breakdowns to frenzied guitar riffs and back again.

The centerpiece of the album plays as a trilogy, a creative monstrosity as sprawling and epic as it is playful and genre bending. “Music of the Spheres – Requiem Aeternam Pt. 1” opens the piece as placid, yet evocative piano outro, which in turn leads in to “Elemental Wrath – Requiem Aeternam Pt. 2.” Immediately filling the sonic vacuum with muddy guitars (in one of the best riffs of the entire album), atmospheric bells, and vocoded vocals, it’s more straightforward than it sounds, offering both unflinchingly heavy and unsubtle metal guitar work, while choosing to quietly diverge from its original course about halfway through. Off-time and filled with unpretentious guitar, bass, and piano lines, the transition is never jarring, and more importantly, it never feels forced or out of place. Building back up to one of the albums heavier, most brutal segments, “Xenosynthesis – Requiem Aeternam Pt. 3” starts as soon as it can, barely able to contain its dark synth and frenzied vocals (a mix of death Metal growls, intense screeches, and throaty barks). The addition of a female vocalist – operatic but never trite, showy, but never to the detriment to the track – give the track an otherworldly, cinematic feel. It’s an inspired addition, and a risk few bands would be willing to take.

The sitar soaked intermission track, “Invisible Creature,” flows seamlessly in to my personal favorite, “Cardiac Rebellion.” Wisdom’s vocals are at their best, leading the track from downtuned, off-time drumwork, to call and response gang vocals, to horn assisted breakdowns. “Adventurous” doesn’t quite cover it as the track quiets down, trombone plays an amusing and captivating back and forth with the guitars, drums play a swing/jazz inspired beat and an enthusiastic gang of vocalists close out the track. It’s a surprisingly light way to end a track that started out on the other end of the spectrum, but fully believable coming from this band, on this particular album. “Reflect Refract” brings the album back to its Metal/Hardcore framework, though balances things out with another unexpectedly melodic mid-song break before heading back in to more familiar territory – it’s another unbridled, breakdown soaked track that never crosses the line in to being over-indulgent, which can absolutely be said of the album as a whole. “Breathing Light,” is the album’s final track, ending things on an upbeat note, lyrically and instrumentally. Guitarists Count Seth and Galley get to have a little fun as the track changes direction quite a few times, led unerringly by Duck on drums, as riffs weave in and out of the tracks various movements and time changes. Gang vocals help elevate the track , and bright, anthemic “oh whoa oh’s” sung over reverbed guitars, chugging breakdowns, and synth strings close things out in oddly appropriate fashion.

To say I was surprised by Celestial Completion is somewhat of an understatement, though I can say that I had no particular expectations going in. It’s becoming increasingly common for Metal bands to branch out, experiment, and do what they can to change things up – sometimes in the name of progression, other times in the name of relevance. Becoming The Archetype has managed to do both at the same time, melding unbridled ambition with intelligent, challenging songwriting. It should come as a surprise to no one then, that I now absolutely consider myself a fan.

Celestial Completion was released March 31^st on Solid State Records.

Becoming The Archetype’s official website: http://www.celestialcompletion.com/
Becoming The Archetype on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/archetypeboys

Album Review: Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math

I’ve always been curious about the how the weight of expectations might factor in, positively or negatively, when it comes to the next album a band releases after they put out something significant. Some bands, a lot of bands – those less sure of themselves, let’s say – might be crushed under the weight of it. Some, though, manage to rise to what I feel is this considerable challenge, as if to say, “Yeah, we can, and we will, do better.”

Progression, too, can make for incalculable, yet tangible strides within the context of a band’s career. It’s a delicate balance, though. Move backwards or forwards one step too many, or deconstruct/reconstruct one too many times, and you’re left with nothing more than a shadow of what fans and fellow musicians know and love about the music being made.

What Manchester Orchestra has managed to do over the course of three full-lengths and a few EP’s is something of a rarity in today’s sometimes crowded, over-saturated, undeviating scenes – defy each and every expectation in damn near every possible way.

With Simple Math, the band’s third – and most diverse album to date – Manchester Orchestra illustrates in no uncertain terms that their brand of sincere, unpretentious, and often devastating indie rock can, and will, always be improved on. Taking cues from both previous full-length releases – 2006’s stunner I’m Like A Virgin Losing a Child and 2008’s downright vicious Mean Everything To Nothing – Simple Math falls somewhere in the sonic middleground, taking bits and pieces from both while adding new elements to make something that is a few solid leaps forward, yet still unequivocally them. Taking cues from the fuzzed-out anti-theatrics of some of the better offerings of 70’s rock and adding an elemental, cohesive background of emotion via noise (think Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism), vocalist/guitarist Andy Hull and company – Robert McDowell on guitar, Chris Freeman on keyboard, Jonathan Corley on bass, and a trio of drummers who recorded Simple Math – have crafted what will easily be heralded as one of the best releases of 2011.

Quiet and contemplative, “Deer” plays as a minimalist introduction to an album with several more moving pieces than the band has used before. String and horn arrangements, children’s choirs, notably (and noticeably) antiquated keyboard tones, and gang vocals are layered throughout. “Pensacola” will go down as one of the most sonically deviant tracks in Manchester Orchestra’s oeuvre, utilizing horn sections, gang vocals, and multiple tempos while being held together by quietly distorted guitars that both my 52 year old father and I can recognize and appreciate. “April Fool” is one of the album’s most energetic numbers, more in line with the borderline manic/aggressive nature of most ofMean Everything’s tracks, while “Pale Black Eye,” title track “Simple Math,” and closer “Leaky Break” all tend to the more quietly insistent side of things. “Pale Black Eye” especially, lays on heaping mounds of fuzzy guitar lines, straightforward riffs and classic rock tinged synth to create one of the most breathtaking throwback tracks to be released in the past decade – strings, marching drums… it’s a spectacular and moving piece of music.

The highlight for me, however, is the haunting, bass driven, and least Manchester Orchestra track I could have imagined, “Virgin.” Ambient, dissonant guitars and dark synth play over fuzzed out bass lines as a children’s choir sings with and against Hull, while eerie horns ring out – it’s a tragic dichotomy of innocence still held captive and innocence lost.

The first time I saw Manchester Orchestra live was November 12^th, 2006 with Brand New, at Fuel Coffee House in Jacksonville, Florida. Since, I’ve seen them 6 or 7 times – one of my favorite times as at a small coffee house in Savannah, Georgia just a couple of weeks later. Their first CD pressing of I’m Like A Virgin… was just out, and I picked up a copy after they came as close as a band can to stealing the show from Brand New. From that point on, I was and have been a devoted fan, and I’ve yet to be anything close to disappointed or anything less than enthralled by their releases. I’ve watched with fascination and curiosity as others became aware of just how important Manchester Orchestra was becoming, and have been nothing short of proud to see such a sincere band get to where they are over the last 5 years. Simple Math is a testament to a band that will constantly be pushing themselves, but will never test the boundaries of where fans are willing to go with them – those boundaries do not exist. Progression and expectations break bands every day, but Manchester Orchestra seems to only be getting stronger with each release. Don’t believe me? Just listen.

Manchester Orchestra Official Site: http://www.themanchesterorchestra.com

Album Review: Balance and Composure – Separation

Where’s the passion? Diminished and lays in the past and I’m distracted, it’s taken me this long to grasp.
“Separation” by Balance and Composure

With music, when I fall, I fall hard. I had a conversation last summer with one of my favorite vocalists, (sorry to namedrop) Jimmy from post-hardcore juggernauts Polar Bear Club, and I had asked him – as I like to do with most of the people I interview – what bands he was in to at the moment. He started talking about some bands in Eastern Pennsylvania that he was really impressed by, namely Tigers Jaw and Balance And Composure. I, of course, ran right back to my local indie record shop to see what I could get my greedy little ears on – I am perpetually starved for new music. The only thing he was able to get for me was Tigers Jaw’s self-titled re-release – and I’ll admit, I was intrigued by what I heard, but only on a surface level. It was a month or two later, when I revisited the album, that it hit me in a significant way. At that point, I’d also only given Balance And Composure a few cursory listens, thinking there was a lot of potential but still not quite getting wrapped up in what I was hearing. Again, it wasn’t until a couple of months later that I would revisit them – and then I fell hard.

With an early self-released EP titled I Just Want To Be Pure, and two formal EP releases through the unstoppable No Sleep Records (who, by the way, are absolutely killing it – seriously, look at their roster), the band manages something most bands need a couple of full-length releases to do: capture an entire scene’s attention. The first label backed EP, Only Boundaries, was released as a 12” vinyl, showcasing a 4 song exercise in measured angst and melody that somehow managed to balance heaviness with reverb soaked guitar lines and huge choruses. Their follow-up, a split with Tigers Jaw, offered 4 more tracks that further expanded on this sound while giving them a chance to shed a little bit of their more obvious influences at the same time. Thunderous, almost cavernously gigantic drums; wavering, dissonant guitar lines over driving chord progressions; vocals that go from serene to vicious without warning – while in print it may sound like trademark Hardcore qualities, Balance And Composure’s post-hardcore, more melodic leanings have somehow managed to evoke a similar visceral response.

Separation marks the arrival of a band fully formed and fully aware of their potential – not just past, but future. Jonathan Simmons’ vocals remain front and center, insistent and emotive, while lyrically he’s painting the same almost somber pictures. Dealing with self-doubt and self-discovery, it’s difficult not to find something to latch on or relate to. The guitar work he shares with Andrew Slaymaker and Erik Peterson remains straightforward yet inventive, shifting from quietly disarming, to controlled chaos instantaneously. There’s a tense, and tension building, quality to their work that’s impossible not to notice, and with tracks constantly ebbing and flowing, building and crashing, there are sublime moments of pure relief and release. Matthew Warner’s bass work continues to anchor the band, even in their quieter moments. Working both with and against some of the more esoteric moments, he fills in gaps and leaves all the necessary moments open in order to make each track as impactful as possible. Drummer Bailey Van Ellis shines again, giving a balanced, measured, wholly enthralling backbone to Separation. Bass and toms explode, snare radiates. On an album where it would be all too easy to get lost in any one thing happening, Van Ellis manages to keep the listener focused on everything at once.

Ranging from quietly moody opener “Void” and dissonantly passionate “Stonehands,” to all-out ragers like “I Tore You Apart In My Head” and “Galena,” Separation moves from track to track with ease, all the while denying the trappings of typical song structures. With few repeated choruses, Balance And Composure instead focus on creating tracks that move the listener as much instrumentally as they do vocally. However, with tracks like “Fade,” gang vocals become the highlight of one of Separation’s lighter tracks – a highlight for all involved as quite a few interweaving parts work in unison, which could easily have gone off the rails in less capable hands. “Patience,” with some of the albums most playful lyrical compositions, is easily the albums heaviest track (though “Progress, Progress” comes damn close), ratcheting up the intensity in a big way before the album closes out with the harmoniously dissonant and gang vocal heavy “Defeat The Low.” The production, while at first troublesome for me, has become much less of an issue as I’ve continued to listen. Brian McTernan’s work here is slightly more balanced and less muffled than he sometimes has a tendency to be, though there are drowned-out, less noticeable moments that would have been stand-out pieces if they had been part of Balance And Composure’s previous efforts. Signature aspects like resonating lead guitar lines sometimes get lost in the shuffle as the low-end is moved up in the mix quite a bit – but those moments are few and far between. McTernan was a surprisingly good pairing for the band, and this album, taking Balance And Composure’s already measured, massive sound and amping them up just enough.

Separation is as triumphant as it is defeated, self-sure as it is uncertain. Few bands have the ability to take such disparate ideas and emotions and make them work as seamlessly as they do on this album. Still very much the same band that released such stunning, almost flawless EPs, Balance And Composure have grown in to themselves in a big way, and have released an absolute monster of an album.