Saosin – "Along the Shadow"
Label: Epitaph Records (Post-Hardcore) (39:31)
Highlights: "The Silver String," "Drinking From the Fountain," "Sore Distress"
A tone of angst-ridden incantations that exhibit just how refined this iteration of Saosin has become. Anthony Green is back on vocals fourteen years since his first EP with the band, "Translating the Name," was released in 2003 to massive acclaim. Having been with Circa Survive in the meantime Green returned to Saosin newfound maturity and polish. His voice is the meat of "Along the Shadow:" by employing both gentle and screaming vocals, often tracked simultaneously, the songs divulge this sick, bipolar sense of duality. They have a call-and-response style going on and frantically communicate about the theme at hand: failing to communicate.
It's not as wild as the band's self-titled album back in 2006 which isn't an issue just because everything, just, sounds, so, delicious. This album is a marvel in audio mixing: the drums are crisp, the guitar is katana-sharp and the bass is massive and driving, like a eighteen-wheeler gunning down rural I-40. All four members have their space and contribute their talent and in turn, the album is a magnificent display of ferocity, at least when they want to get ferocious, which is often. I'm also convinced that the bridge part in “Drinking From the Fountain” is the hardest riff the band has written. Saosin falls short on reigniting their momentum back from the mid-2000's, but I don't think that's what the goal was. Rather, "Along the Shadow" successfully incites the passionate frustration weaved into the music's fabric.
If you enjoy this album, it's worth revisiting Circa Survive's 10-year anniversary re-release of their first album "On Letting Go." Green's growth from his earliest demos are a great reference point for how mature he has gotten with his singing.
Steven Wilson – "Hand. Cannot. Erase."
Label: KScope (Progressive Rock) (65:44)
Highlights: "3 Years Older," "Hand Cannot Erase," "Regret #9," "Ancestral"
Back with his fourth solo album and rending the hopes of all Porcupine Tree fans left in the process, Steven Wilson charms the masses with another cinematic, prog-rock opera. A soft two minutes of ambiance sets the tone for "Hand. Cannot. Erase." and then it's off; a Swiss gondola ride through the ever-darkening mind of Dr. Wilson and his band of tag-team wily instrumentalists.
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The story revolves around a woman who suddenly goes missing and the people who knew her have their memories slowly fading or reappearing through the narrative of the record. Wilson, as usual, intercepts a wide range of emotions in one dense, cohesive, fel swoop and doesn't skip a beat in smoothly transitioning between 12-minute jam after 12-minute jam.
"Hand. Cannot. Erase." will inspire tranquility within the audience's mind-scape only to smash it down with sludgy riffs drenched in asthmatic hopelessness. The breakdown in “Ancestral," which one comes to quickly realize is the climax of the album, is an absolute joy to play through loud speakers. Five minutes of glorious, complex instrumentation that revolves around this skewed riff that all band members take turns trying to swallow.
Meanwhile, the title track is a gorgeous poppy love anthem, armed with a pounding heart-beat kick drum that will implore a few cynics to turn up the volume. Shout out to Cass. If you enjoy this album I recommend Wilson's previous solo work, "Grace for Drowning" (2011) and the his performance of “Luminol” in Mexico City, as well as the critically acclaimed albums of Porcupine Tree (their last three are the cream of the crop).
Future of the Left – "The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left"
Label: Prescriptions (Alternative Metal) (38:19)
Highlights: "The Limits of Battleships," "White Privilege Blues," "50 Days Before the Hun"
A hectic romp through a particularly loud and cynical forest fire detailed by lumbering, distorted bass riffs and the most hate-infused lyrics on this side of the Atlantic Ocean (eastward that is, Future of the Left are from Wales).
Andy Falkous has become absolutely unparalleled in writing misanthropic poetry. It's almost to the degree of comedy, wherein he explicitly calls out consumerism, corporate America and false media on failing to better the human race. Future of the Left has always been heavily riff-oriented, but this time the gargantuan, melodic repetition has become imperative. Particular licks keep growing and growing until either Falco starts screaming or the other band members do, in timbre, with their instruments.
Compared to earlier work on "Curses" (2007) and "The Plot Against Common Sense" (2012) the group's general approach has become more...poignant. It's worth checking out their previous work, but believe me, "The Peace and Truce" is the most polite Falco has ever been while yelling at people.
The Last Shadow Puppets – "Everything You've Come to Expect"
Label: Domino Records (Alternative Rock) (37:23)
Highlights: "Miracle Aligner," "Dracula Teeth," "Bad Habits," "Pattern"
Folks have been waiting for a follow up to "The Age of the Understatement" (2008) for about eight years now, and though stylistically different, "Everything You've Come to Expect" succeeds in something important: not being disappointing.
Alex Turner is old now; he isn't going to wittingly poeticize the English nightlife club scene and culture anymore. Rather, he and Miles Kane share some delicate moments of baroque pondering, wistfully in an almost stream-of-consciousness-manner day dreaming about certain aspects of certain people during certain relationships. The vintage eponymous track, lyrically reflective of the album as a whole, is a bittersweet and lament on an obsession.
“Everything that you've come to expect,
I guess the coastal air gets a girl to reflect,
I just can't get the thought of you and him out of my head.”
It's a gorgeous forray into the world of baroque pop for the two musicians, because they've, famously, only been this fragile with a huge musical behind them (cough “505”). There aren't any massive, fast-paced "Favorite Worst Nightmare"-era explosions here.
However Turner and Kane both loosen their cufflinks a little and get mischievous with the song “Bad Habits." There's also a bit of humor to be had when the album concludes with “The Dream Synopsis." The last lyric, “It must be torture when I talk about my dreams,” comes only after the audience has gone through 30 minutes of Turner doing so.
Songs on "Everything You've Come to Expect" sound either like lullabies, cabaret romance anthems or anywhere in between. Which is fine by me. I quite enjoy falling asleep to someone telling me I'm pretty.
Radiohead – "A Moon Shaped Pool"
Label: XL Recordings (Art Rock) (52:31)
Highlights: "Desert Island Disk," "Glass Eyes," "The Numbers," "Present Tense"
No surprises. However, there are a lot of people that don't know Radiohead released an album, and to that I say, “Yeah, that's understandable." Thom Yorke announces albums like a kid deciding to change activities; spontaneously, sporadically and somewhat annoyingly.
However to the delight of perhaps of all of Radiohead's kingdom this album is almost twice as long as the ever-so mixed reviewed "The King of Limbs" in early 2011. It's also much more fleshed out and actually doesn't sound like a Thom Yorke solo album. Greenwood's strings make a triumphant return into the radio-headlights and coat the sonic environment with a mixture of beautiful herbs and spices that'd make even the Colonel stop making chicken and pick up a guitar every now and then. As aforementioned, I'm a sucker for some good strings; honestly a tween pop-star single could employ right them, and I'd be all ears.
But Radiohead continues to be magnificent. They are the fine wine of art rock. They are a classy party at a cliffside mansion you attend to feel a rare, unique kind of melancholy. One that isn't about leaving or losing a loved one (although Yorke's divorce did imaginably have an impact of the recording of "A Moon Shaped Pool").
Their songs are about recognizing that even though the world may only just be one dumb, bleak color, there is beauty in the shades.
Audrin Baghaie is the music editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached on Twitter @AudrinTheOdd.
