Brand New Band • Page 42

Deja is where they started to get really good at their quiet verse to loud chorus formula, which I love.

Edit: aw crap. I double posted and it's at the top of the page for all to see.

 

Yeah I definitely hear it too. I feel like there are a lot of singers in our scene who take that route after a few albums.

 

Adam Lazzara took it to the next level

 

My issue is that he sings through his teeth too much, especially on New Again.

 

Adam and Jesse. Never forget.

 

I thought Adam was from NJ?

 

Actually a big fan when Adam takes it down a register and sings through his teeth. He just posted a clip on Instagram of Mark laying some cymbals and the vocals behind it sound like that. Exactly what I want.

 

He's from Alabama, I believe.

 

Lol you guys making your sweeping statements as if it's not all just opinion. It's a forum, people think different things, get over it.

 

I'll take "cowboy accents" all day. Gimme all the cowboys, all the accents.

 

So why does Jesse wanna die in Kyoto of all places? If I had to choose, I'd die on the moon.

 

The one that turned me off the most I think was Ben Gibbard. He switched up his singing style on Narrow Stairs but I've never been able to really articulate what it is I don't like about it.

 

I like Jesse's voice in any era. I love the way he sings in Not the Sun though, maybe my favorite.

 

It's louder, like he uses more air when he sings as compared to the softer stuff that came earlier

 

I have never liked YFW. As for Deja, I used to love it, but over the last three years I've found myself going back to TDAG or Daisy so much more. I'd say Deja has become an album I like now as opposed to one that I love. Whenever I feel like listening to Brand New it's always TDAG or Daisy, or the leaked demos now too.

 

Definition of filler?

 

I think his voice sounded better on Happiness Is than it has since Louder Now. He kind of embraced a lower vocal range on a lot of the songs, probably because of what smoking has done to his voice. They still should lean on John for more vocals though.

Also, he's from North Carolina I believe. Lived there, moved to NY, and now lives there again.

 

This is true. He lives like 15 minutes from me, actually.

 

Imagine taking months to finish a track and it being called filler. You can dislike things all you want, but use the correct words.

 

I don't think the time spent on something necessarily gives something value.

 

It doesn't take months to finish a song. And it's pretty common knowledge that some bands have a quota to meet, so they have to create tracks to fill it out. In Brand New's case, they ditched 7 songs that were supposed to be The Devil and God, and thus they had to replace the tracks to fill an album. Like, differing opinions are one thing, but saying songs can't be filler because "time" just comes off as ignorance.

 

You talk about what comes off as ignorance, yet what you said that I bolded is complete ignorance.

 

"Filler" to me implies that the track in question lacks some sort of substance or purpose in the context of an album, or that it seems like the band put in very little effort or thought to craft the song itself. Considering there's absolutely no way to objectively qualify any of that if you're removed from the process of writing the song, it's a pretty dismissive (and, in my opinion, lazy) way to argue its lack of quality. It's no better than merely saying "this song is bad." Not to say there's anything wrong with calling a song "filler" or "bad," but if you want to actually have a true discussion, you should elaborate on why you believe it to be as such.

Personally, I don't find anything to meet that description on TDAG. I don't believe that the band "needed" filler and just threw a few songs together to complete the album. We're talking about a band that regularly took 3 plus years in-between albums when they were signed, and has now taken 7 years to even suggest they're putting another out. It just seems weird to me to argue that they felt compelled to rush anything out. I find it more likely that the band had most, if not all, of the songs that appeared on TDAG written prior to the demos even leaking in the first place, and probable that most of the demos wouldn't have made it on the finished record regardless. TDAG is simply too well-crafted as an album, in terms of mood/atmosphere, and flow, that any of the demos (barring Nobody Moves and obviously the ones that were re-worked) would have felt out of place to me.

As for the songs themselves, idk, I just find something to love about every single track on the album. Welcome to Bangkok, for example, is such a densely layered and intense instrumental. I love the mood it sets and think its placement on the album is pretty perfect– it adds to the intensity the album builds with Degausser, Limousine, and You Won't Know. The darkness of those tracks is even more impactful with the relatively quick burst of Bangkok; hearing Jesse screaming through the pickups of his guitar for some reason really makes me feel the anger and desperation present on the album all the more.

Not The Sun is a much needed reprieve from the first half of the album, being relatively upbeat and bright musically, but without compromising the dynamics found throughout the record. For that reason, it still manages to feel like part of the same world as the rest of the album. The bridge of that song is also an album highlight.

The untitled track, to me, manages to be both a beautiful and eerie interlude and is incredibly consistent with helping to set the mood of the record. Coming after the explosion that is the ending of Luca, it's a piece that's soothing instrumentally, almost feeling like a lullaby, but is offset by the jarring, indecipherable, almost alien-sounding vocals. It's a haunting reminder that even at its prettiest, the album is still a look into the darkest corners of the minds of its creators. A lullaby in the "wrong" context can be terrifying, rather than relaxing.

The calmness of Untitled is immediately offset by the thundering drums of Archers, which I find I appreciate for much of the same reasons as Not The Sun. It's a nice burst of energy and change in pace between Luca/Untitled and Handcuffs. It's the closest a song on the album comes to feeling "out of place," as musically it feels relatively triumphant and the lyrics are more "politically charged" than anything found on the rest of the album, but to me it still works as it maintains the dynamics of the record. In a way it's almost a deceptive penultimate track, given how somber of a closer Handcuffs is; it almost feels like a sense of hope is about to be found, like the narrator has found some fight in themselves, only to be knocked back into depression and introspection. Speaking of which, I hear complaints that Handcuffs is a poor closer and I couldn't disagree with that more. It's a perfect summation of the themes found on the album.

I definitely understand why the album wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I don't think it's fair to call it full of filler.

 

I read about Kyoto last year when Mene was released and the city is known for its shrines. For a song about worrying about self-doubt and being afraid of not achieving one's potential, wanting to die in a city of shrines is fitting if Jesse himself wants to be enshrined.

Interludes don't equate to filler. Untitled has such a eerie mystique to it that it compliments the record so well. I could listen to it all day. It's serves the same purpose as the bridge to Millstone, the outro to Jesus, the outro to Limousine, the intro to You Won't Know, and Welcome To Bangkok (and many other moments): it sets and solidifies a mood. I'm a huge fan of the atmosphere those moments create. It's what separates this record from others. Every song is entrancing.

 

I mean, that's another argument. It doesn't normally take that long to write a song (especially not ones like the back half of TDAG), but if I speak ignorance in one short sentance about one topic, that doesn't suddenly discredit the ones after it about another. But, it is just the internet. Haha I don't give a shit if people feel differently. Sorry if my posts come off differently, I don't have the best communication skills. (Which I imagine is glaringly obvious reading through any of my past posts basically)