Brand New have unleashed their fourth studio album, Daisy. 01.25 minutes into the opening track ‘Vices’, the 1960s style choral recordings come to an end and you will, undoubtedly, jump out of your skin a little. Brand New’s music is becoming more powerful and intense than ever before.
Daisy’s songs stagger as the band’s heaviest to date. With a variety of styles, embarking from the explosive, ‘Nirvana-like’ mastery of ‘Vices’ and ‘Be Gone‘ through to tracks such as ‘Daisy’ and ‘Bed’ which agonise over self-contemplation, to melancholy pieces like ‘You Stole’ and ‘Noro’, which is the final track and brings the album to full circle. Lyrically, the songs here are more dingy, emotional and reflective of band member Jesse Lacey’s life happenings and thoughts.
The atmosphere of this album is eruptive, yet dense. It captures flourishing melody, which leads to Daisy being victorious. However, Brand New’s latest sound and power they roar can be overwhelming at times and almost endorses the poetry in the lyrics that is the band’s original forte. Daisy, nevertheless, manages to be masterpiece of angst-rock.
After taking a break from the music scene to write their latest album, The All-American Rejects are back. “The Wind Blows” is their latest track from the band’s third album “When The World Comes Down”. The song is much more mellow approach than previous hits, such as “Move Along” and memorable “Dirty Little Secret”, which were both released in the band’s ‘hay-days’ during 2005.
The ‘rejects’ most recent single suggests a mature and melodious path in the band’s career. “The Wind Blows”is a song about a broken love. It’s repetitive and less upbeat than the likes of chart-topping “Gives You Hell”, which was the first single to be released from the American foursome’s new album.
Admittedly, the mainstream boys have done it again. Despite “The Wind Blows” not being as popular, people seem to like it, which keeps the momentum going for now.
“Open Arms” is the latest single by Gary-Go, and to put it bluntly, it’s dull. A generic, ‘down in the dumps’ rock-pop song, consisting of rhetorical questions and… pessimism.
Gary-Go has supported Irish trio The Script, along with Take That on their comeback tour this past summer. You would think, because of such large crowds he has performed to (Take That have a LOT of hardcore fans!), Gary would be rather well-known and would have had a lot of publicity with his recent album in the UK. This doesn’t appear to be the case.
I’ve come to the conclusion this may be due to such negativity he portrays in his songs. With lyrics such as “lost without a trace”, “Open Arms” is not a song you would choose to listen to if you were feeling blue!
However, despite being quite a ‘gloomy’ track, I have to admit, it’s catchy. When the chorus kicks in, optimism shows – You’ll be thankful to know! The self-taught multi-instrumentalist has to be given some credit as there doesn’t seem to be many artists these days who write and produce their own music. Good on you Gary.
The Melbourne-born foursome prove through their forceful ten track album, they lack nothing in ambition. “Conditions”, including the acclaimed singles “Science of Fear” and the song which stuck in festival-goers heads this summer, “Sweet Disposition”, most definitely does the indie-pop musicians justice. Producer Jim Abbiss, who has worked with the likes of award-winning Arctic Monkeys and Adele, is sure to be proud.
With glowing reviews from bloggers worldwide, as well as having BBC’s Zane Lowe as a fan, The Temper Trap are well on their way to UK domination. Energetic Dougie, Lorenzo, Toby and Jonathan have undoubtedly plucked a few heart strings with harmoniously strong tracks such as “Love Lost” and “Fools”. Contrasting the emotionally-driven songs on the album are musically intense “Fader” and catchy “Rest”, which are guaranteed to leave you singing at the top of your voice.
With The Temper Trap’s popularity swiftly rising, an amazing turn-out and atmosphere at this year’s festival season, not forgetting a UK tour which commenced this September, the ‘Ozzy lads’ appear to have a lot on their plates. Maybe take a leaf out of your own book boys – “Soldier On”! A must listen.
