Brand New Band • Page 231

Devil and God has like, the six or seven best songs they ever wrote, so my mind is blown at people putting Daisy over it. Haha

 

I think Daisy has at least as many of their best songs
but also i like them as much, not one over the other so

 

Daisy is consistent, but none of their other records have highs that can even approach those of TDAG.

 

That's how I feel as well. And it's what draws a line: certain people prefer the consistency and others prefer the absurdly high points. I'm in the former and completely understand the latter.

 

I'd take At the Bottom, You Stole, Sink, Daisy and Noro over anything on The Devil and God. haha (though, I'm aware I am in a very small minority)

 

I take the latter easily, since I just cut the rest of TDAG haha.

 

But seriously... I think Sowing Season, Millstone, Jesus, Degausser, Limousine, You Won't Know, and Archers are the band's seven best songs.

 

I totally get where you're coming from. A lot of songs don't stand up on their own on that record, which is why "Bed" falls flat live, but put them inside of their context of their own little world and they rest upon a league of their own. It's important to know that the record was practically built to give the listener an uneasy feeling. The crash of Vices, the creeping afterthoughts of Bed, the rough vocals of Gasoline and Sink, the indecipherable crook of Be Gone, the calm of You Stole leading into it's literal meltdown, the desperate yells of In A Jar (in which the pre-chorus radio sample is basically a mini Lucabomb), it's all perfect within itself. It's a narrative fueled with the acknowledgement of flaws, the incapability to do anything to fix itself, and the acceptance of an unhealthy cycle. It's like lighting your house on fire and then proceeding to sit on the couch. The blurred fox on the cover is a perfect representation of that. Forests and nature are romanticized for purity, but the album teaches that they're anything but. Trees can make a forest, trees can make a bow.

 

I think part of the idea that Devil has higher highs is that they come in these perfectly timed explosive moments, but Daisy songs tended to divide pretty often the quiet parts into their own songs and the high energy into their own songs. But idk, Daisy is just like the other side of the conversation for me and I need them both

 

Cutting anything on TDAG might be a more unpopular thing than my Daisy love. haha

 

top to bottom Daisy and Devil and God don't need anything cut imo. There's just a very clear start and end to the thematic narrative

 

I will stand by "Luca" being the best Brand New song forever. "Noro" close second.

 

I'd never cut anything from TDAG, but that might be because it's my favorite record of all time. Every single song has transcended importance for me. I don't think anything else could ever compare.

 

Daisy blew me away the first time I heard it. It's my favourite Brand New album, it's just so consistent and it's not too long so I can listen to it on the way to uni easily. I love the atmosphere, production, and there are no weak tracks. I love Daisy.

 

Daisy is just a weird record that I have to be in a certain mood for, and I'm not in that kind of mood often. I still like it though. Front to back, it's definitely more consistent. Overall better album, I'm taking TDAG because of its outstanding songs.

 

TDAG hits a super lull for me 2/3 in... the album in my iTunes is the seven tracks I mentioned plus Handcuffs. I cannot stand "Not the Sun".

 

Not The Sun might be their most energetic song. The intensity of Jesse's vocals on that song gives me shivers every time. "Just pretend that you love me" is explosive.

 

"Not The Sun" I hated at first but it grew on me

 

Same here. The verses annoyed the hell out of me at first haha

 

I don't think I'll ever like that song haha

 

I got to love that song and Archers more and more over the years, and I never hated them. Good shit, really

 

Younger me was baffled on how all the "fast" songs were at the end of the album (and only two at that), but now I find the restraint genius. Every song, except Untitled, has that huge loud moment in them, but the fact that NTS and Archers are the only ones that genuinely start fast and end fast was something I simply could not comprehend during my first few listens of the record. Once I started appreciating it, every time I got to the second half of the record, it was almost like a treat. Those power songs feel much more satisfying at the end. It also allowed me to truly absorb and admire the songs that proceed it, which is now some of my favorite content that Brand New has ever done.

 

I think Archers is fantastic. Still, the stretch after You Won't Know before the last two songs is a total mess IMO. That's been my issue with the record since day one and the reason I can't love it as a whole

 

I sometimes wonder how I would feel about TDAG album if it was a double LP with the demo songs included

 

it's not the other songs faults that you won't know is a top five brand new song. what could live up to it tbh